Woodchurch House

Updated 30 June 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.

As part of this inspection, we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by 2 inspectors and 2 Experts 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

Woodchurch House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Woodchurch House is a care home with nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

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 not a registered manager in post. A new manager had been in post for 1 month and had applied to register. We are currently assessing their application.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we received about the service since the last inspection. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as serious injuries. We sought feedback from the local authority. 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 9 people who used the service and 9 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We observed multiple interactions between people and staff throughout the day. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We spoke with 11 members of staff including the manager, deputy manager, compliance manager, nurses, care workers and various support staff. We also spoke with 2 professionals who were visiting the service. We reviewed a range of records including 8 people's care records and electronic medication records. We looked at 4 staff files to review their recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service were reviewed including health and safety checks, meeting notes and audits.

Updated 30 June 2023

About the service

Woodchurch House is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care for up to 60 people. The service supports people with a range of nursing needs including people living with dementia. The service is arranged across 2 floors with lift access. The second floor is mainly for people living with dementia. People had access to shared lounges and dining rooms and accessible bathrooms, gardens and grounds. At the time of our inspection there were 32 people using the service.

Woodchurch House also provides personal care for people living in their own homes, within the same accommodation. These people have a tenancy agreement and a separate agreement for their care provision. There were 43 people receiving personal care in their ‘own homes’. People receiving personal care can choose to have their care provided by another care provider. However, everyone living in Woodchurch House had their care provided by staff employed by the service. The manager confirmed that everyone received the same level of care and support, so we included everyone in this inspection. We are working closely with the provider to reduce the number of people with tenancies to enable the whole service to be available for people who require accommodation with nursing or personal care.

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

People and their relatives told us they felt safe and were happy living in Woodchurch House. One person said, “Yes, I’m safe, I’m well looked after, and my room is lovely and clean.” A relative told us, “It is safe, because it is well run, with plenty of staff and it is clean.”

People’s risks had been assessed and documented and staff knew people well. Staff knew about the individual risks and what to do to keep people safe. Risk assessments were reviewed regularly. The service was clean and infection control was managed well.

People were protected from the risk of abuse by staff who were trained in safeguarding processes. Staff were confident to report concerns and said actions would be taken as appropriate. Medicines were managed well, and lessons were learned and shared if something went wrong.

People were involved in decisions about their care, and they received care which promoted their dignity and encouraged independence. Relatives told us they were kept up to date with any changes in their loved one’s condition. One relative said, “They always let me know if they have called the doctor.”

People and their relatives spoke highly of the staff, describing them as kind, caring and friendly. Staff enjoyed working at Woodchurch House and told us teamwork was good.

Quality assurance processes were in place to monitor the service and regular audits were undertaken on a range of aspects, such as medicines and infection control. A new manager was in post and staff told us they found them approachable and supportive with an open-door policy.

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.

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 15 September 2021).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted in part by a review of the information we held about this service and in part by a notification of an incident following which a person using the service sustained a serious injury. This incident is subject to further investigation by CQC as to whether any regulatory action should be taken. As a result, this inspection did not examine the circumstances of the incident. However, the information shared with CQC about the incident indicated potential concerns about the management of risk of unwitnessed falls. This focused inspection looked at the key questions of safe, caring and well led and examined those risks.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe section of this full report.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service remains good.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Woodchurch House 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.