Housing 21 - Winehala Court

Updated 17 November 2023

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was conducted by 2 inspectors and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is bought or rented and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support service.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection and we wanted to be sure there would be people at home to speak with us.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.

We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 12 people and 1 relative about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 5 staff members. We also spoke with the housing manager and the registered manager. We reviewed a range of records, these included 4 people’s care records, medicines administration records, as well as governance and quality assurance records. We also looked at 3 staff recruitment files.

Updated 17 November 2023

About the service

Housing 21 – Winehala Court is an extra care service made up of 60 self-contained flats. The service is registered to provide personal care to people living in these flats. At the time of our inspection there were 26 people using the service who required support with personal care. People had a range of needs including physical disabilities, health conditions and dementia.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

At the time of the inspection, the location did not care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

People told us they felt safe when receiving support from staff. Risks had been assessed and staff followed guidance in care plans to support people safely. Care plans and risk assessments were regularly reviewed and updated with any changes to people’s care needs. People received support at agreed times and staff had been safely recruited. People received their medicines as prescribed and staff followed infection control guidance to reduce the risk of cross infection.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People were complementary about the care they received. People felt respected and treated with dignity by the staff team. Staff spoke with fondness about the people they supported and promoted their independence where possible.

People, relatives, and staff expressed confidence in the registered manager and the wider management team. The registered manager was aware of their regulatory responsibilities and audits were in place to review the quality of care delivered. Where concerns were identified, actions were implemented to drive improvements. People, staff and visiting professionals had been asked to share their feedback about the service and the staff team worked in partnership with external professionals to ensure people’s needs were met.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 19 September 2017).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. We completed a focused inspection to review safe, caring and well-led only.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Housing 21 – Winehala Court on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.