Archived: Wood Hill House

Updated 10 July 2021

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 Care Act 2014.

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

The inspection team was made up of two inspectors.

Service and service type

Wood Hill House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The manager had been in post for approximately five months at the time of this inspection. They were in the process of registering with CQC.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority, clinical commissioning group and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with two people who lived at Wood Hill House about their experience of the care provided. We met with the manager, deputy manager, regional manager and director. We spoke with 11 members of staff.

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 looked around the building to check environmental safety and cleanliness. We looked at written records, which included three people’s care records and five staff files. A variety of records relating to the management of the service were also reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. This included supervision and training data, and the results of recent satisfaction surveys.

Updated 10 July 2021

About the service

Wood Hill House is a care home that provides accommodation, nursing and personal care for adults living with a range of care and support needs, including people living with a physical disability, people with mental health needs and people with a learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder. The home can accommodate up to 83 people in one purpose-built building over four floors, each of which has separate adapted facilities. At the time of this inspection there were ten people residing permanently at Wood Hill House and three people in receipt of respite care.

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

There were systems in place to recognise and respond to any allegations of abuse. Staff had received training in safeguarding vulnerable adults. Safe recruitment procedures made sure staff were of suitable character and background. There were enough staff deployed to meet people’s care and support needs in a timely way. Medicines were stored safely and administered as prescribed. We were assured there were effective systems in place to help prevent and reduce the spread of infections.

Staff were provided with an induction and relevant training to make sure they had the right skills and knowledge for their role. Staff were supported in their jobs through team meetings, supervisions and appraisals. 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 supported to eat and drink to maintain a balanced diet. People were encouraged to maintain good health and have access to health and social care services as required. Positive and supportive relationships had been developed between people living at Wood Hill House and the staff. People’s right to privacy was respected and staff ensured people's dignity was maintained. Care records provided person-centred information to enable staff to meet people’s needs and preferences.

The service was well-led. Comments about the manager were overwhelmingly positive. There were effective systems in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service provided. The provider had a comprehensive set of policies and procedures covering all aspects of service delivery.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right Support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

The service was not able to demonstrate how they were meeting one of the underpinning principles of right support, right care, right culture. People’s individual needs were not fully met by the size and design of the service. The service can accommodate up to 83 people and as result there were large communal areas that were not conducive to meeting the varied and complex needs of some of the people who used the service. The premises had not been personalised to reflect the individual preferences of the people living there. The type and layout of the building therefore did not meet all the components of right support, right care, right culture.

Best practice guidance regarding accommodation for autistic people recommends it should usually be provided in small, local community-based units. Best practice guidance for people with a learning disability recommends living alone or with a small number of other people in shared housing that has a small-scale domestic feel. The manager and provider told us they had long term plans to improve the design of the service and reduce the bed capacity.

Right support:

• Model of care and setting maximises people’s choice, control and independence

Right care:

• Care is person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy and human rights

Right culture:

• Ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives

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 under the previous provider was good (published 29 June 2018).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection of the new registered provider.

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.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.