Archived: The New Wycliffe Home

The New Wycliffe accommodates up to 49 people in a two-storey purpose-built residential home in Leicester. The home is on two floors with a lift for access and has a range of lounges, dining areas and gardens. At the time of our inspection there were 48 people using the service.

This inspection took place on the 22 March 2018 and was unannounced. We had previously inspected this home in November 2015 when it was rated ‘Good’. At this inspection, we found the evidence continued to support the rating of Good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and on-going monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. 'Responsive', which had been Outstanding, was now Good as we did not find enough evidence to maintain the Outstanding rating for this domain.

This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The staff were caring and kind and people and relatives told us the home had a family atmosphere. Staff engaged with people and shared jokes with them which people enjoyed. Family members said they could visit the home at any time and always found their family members well-cared for and content.

People were safe living at the home and staff knew how to support them to stay safe. All areas of the home were clean, tidy and fresh. Effective systems and checks ensured the premises were safe for people. There were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs. Medicines were safely managed and given to people when they needed them.

People’s needs were assessed prior to them moving into the home to ensure that staff were able to meet these. The home specialised in supporting people with sight loss and staff understood people’s sight issues and how these might affect them on a day to day basis. The staff were skilled, knowledgeable and experienced and had the necessary training to support them in their roles.

People and relatives made many positive comments about the food served. The home employed four part-time nutritional support workers who helped to ensure people had a healthy balanced diet. People had regular access to healthcare professionals and staff sought support from them when needed.

People were encouraged to make decisions about their care and day-to-day routines and preferences. Staff demonstrated they worked within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act and there was documentation to support this.

People were encouraged to follow their interests. People and relatives told us about some of the activities they had enjoyed including hosting a travelling zoo, using the home’s cyber café to speak with relatives abroad, and going out on the home’s ‘side by side’ tandem bicycle with staff.

The home had a shop/cafe stocked with drinks, sweets and toiletries. Some people helped in the shop putting sweets in jars, tidying up, and dusting the shelves. The shop/cafe was popular with people and visitors and provided a pleasant space where people could gather together and socialise.

The culture of the home was caring and inclusive with people at the heart of the service provided. People and relatives told us the registered manager and staff were approachable and helpful.

There were effective systems in place to monitor the quality of the service. People and relatives had the opportunity to comment on the quality of the home in surveys and at meetings and changes and improvements were made in response to their suggestions.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

We spoke with three people who had relatives who used the service. Their comments included: 'I can't fault New Wycliffe, my relative requires phenomenal patience, and their being here gives me tremendous peace, they're so kind and all I want is a good quality of life for my relative and I have a sense of being safe with them being here.' 'A complete moving and handling assessment was carried out by the moving and handling trainer when my relative's needs altered, my relative eats well and has put on weight whilst they've been here. The registered manager has a positive leadership approach.' One relative told us that the registered manager had organised training to which relatives were encouraged to attend. The relative told us that had attended training in the safeguarding of vulnerable adults from abuse and dementia awareness.

Throughout the day we saw people being encouraged to take part in activities by the activity organiser and staff. A themed display about the Queen was being set up and staff encouraged people to investigate what the Queen carried in her hand bag, to interact with the Corgi dog, and to look as postcards and books from the Queen's earlier days. We also saw a member of staff take 'Snowy' the services rabbit to people to hold and stroke. The activity organiser wrote the activities for the day on the activity board located in the ground floor corridor. Next to the activities board was a large colourful button that when pressed played an audible recording of the daily activities available. This facility was to support people with a visual impairment.

In addition in the corridor on the ground floor the menu was written on a board. Alongside this was a 'talking menu', which required a person to press a large colourful button in order to hear the menu for the day. This facility is to support people with a visual impairment who used the service.

The premises were of a high standard. The outside areas were safe and well maintained, with wide paths and guiding rails for people with mobility difficulties and a visual impairment. The garden was colourful and benefited from a number of seating areas and objects of interest to look at which included a bird aviary and a pond.