Wellington Care

Updated 21 July 2022

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 carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in five ‘supported living’ settings, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

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

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 23 June 2022 and ended on 29 June 2022. We visited the location’s office/service on 23 March 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

During the inspection

We spoke with one person about their experience of the care provided from the service. We spoke with five members of staff including the registered manager, two service managers, two community support workers. We also received feedback via email from one community support worker. We reviewed a range of records. This included one person’s care records, medication records, three staff files and a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures.

Updated 21 July 2022

About the service

Wellington Care is a supported living service registered to provide personal care to people who live in their own homes. Some of these homes are shared with self-contained flats and an office space for staff. Some people live on their own.

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. At the time of our inspection there was one person receiving personal care and support.

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

People had not always receive their medicines safely and this had not been identified in a timely manner by management. We made a recommendation regarding medicines. There were monitoring systems in place to monitor the quality of the service, but these were not always effective. The registered manager had identified this and had started to review the processes in place. We made a recommendation about quality monitoring and embedding these in practice.

Staff were supported within their roles and received training to support this. Frequency of supervision had not always been delivered in line with the providers policy. However, staff felt supported and plans were in place to address this.

Care plans and risk assessments provided staff with information about people’s needs and how to support them safely. End of life wishes were recorded when expressed.

People and staff were positive about their experiences with the service. People told us that they had reliable support and staff respected them. People were supported to remain independent and were treated with dignity.

There were appropriate numbers of staff to support people when required. Safe recruitment practices were in place. Systems were in place to prevent and minimise the spread of infections when supporting people.

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 Care Quality Commission (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 12 March 2021 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.