The Wolds Care Centre

Updated 30 April 2022

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the registered provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide 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

Our inspection was conducted by three 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

The Wolds Care Centre is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service did not have a manager registered with CQC. However, at the time of our inspection, a new manager had been in post for about three weeks. The manager told us she planned to submit an application to become the registered manager. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

The inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

In planning our inspection, we reviewed information we had received about the service. This included information we had received from anonymous sources expressing concerns about the safety of staffing levels and other issues in the home.

We also reviewed information shared with us by other organisations including the local authority contract monitoring, health protection and safeguarding teams; and notifications submitted to CQC. Notifications are events which happened in the service that the registered provider is required to tell us about.

During the inspection

We conducted our inspection between 26 January and 2 February 2022.

During the inspection we spoke with the manager; two of the provider's operations and compliance managers; an activities coordinator; a chef; a housekeeper and seven members of the nursing and care team. We also spoke with eight residents and fifteen relatives.

We reviewed a range of written records including seven people’s care file, two staff recruitment files and information relating to the auditing and monitoring of service provision.

After the inspection

We reviewed further information we had requested from the provider, including data relating to Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS).

Updated 30 April 2022

About the service

The Wolds Care Centre is registered to provide accommodation for up to 66 people requiring nursing or personal care, including older people and people living with dementia. Accommodation was organised over two floors, in four separate units, with some communal facilities available to everyone.

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

A new manager had been in post for about three weeks. With support from her line manager and senior colleagues in the home, she had started to work systematically to improve aspects of service delivery. The manager had an open leadership style and responded positively to our feedback. Staff found the new manager easy to work with and were supportive of her approach.

Further improvement was required in a number of areas including medicines management; staffing; training and supervision; care planning, person-centred care provision; individual risk assessment; organisational learning; protection of people’s rights under the Mental Capacity Act (2005); quality assurance and notification of significant events.

More positively, staff promoted people’s privacy and independence and people enjoyed the food and drink provided in the home.

Systems were in place to ensure effective infection prevention and control and staff knew how to recognise and report any concerns, to safeguard people from the risk of abuse. Staff recruitment was safe and any complaints were managed effectively.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with CQC on 14 December 2020 and this is the first inspection.

The last rating for the service under the previous provider was Good, published on 23 September 2019.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection following a change of provider and re-registration of the service as a new legal entity. However, we brought forward the date of our planned inspection as we had received concerns about the safety of care provision.

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. This included checking the provider was meeting COVID-19 vaccination requirements.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

We have identified three breaches of regulations relating to the provision of person-centred care; the assessment and management of potential risks to people's safety and welfare and organisational governance.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

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