Wintofts Residential Home

Updated 9 December 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.

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

One inspector carried out this inspection.

Service and service type

Wintofts Residential Home 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. Wintofts Residential Home is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

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 (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 reviewed the information we held about the service and we spoke with organisations and people involved with the service. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with one volunteer carer and the provider. We reviewed a range of records. This included one person's care records and medication record. We looked at records relating to two volunteers and the provider in relation to recruitment and training. We also looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures.

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.

Updated 9 December 2022

About the service

Wintofts Residential Home is a residential care home providing personal care for one person aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to six people. The care home is based in a rural location and is adjacent to a farmhouse. The "care home" is purposely adapted to provide care, with a stair lift to access the upper floor. There is a kitchen area, two dining rooms and bedrooms with a shared bathroom.

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right Support:

Medicines were not always managed in a safe way. Prescribed nutritional supplements were left in communal areas and decisions to reduce some supplements had been made by the provider without consultation with relevant professionals.

Although the service was clean and tidy throughout, the provider didn’t always provide care and support in a safe environment. Government guidance in relation to Covid 19 was not always followed, cleaning schedules were not in place and outbreak management plans were not thorough. They did not demonstrate how the person would be cared for in the event of an outbreak.

The provider supported the person to have the maximum possible choice and independence and they had control over their own lives. The provider focused on the person’s strengths and promoted what they could do, so they had a fulfilling and meaningful everyday life.

Right Care:

Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. However, the provider did not have up to date safeguarding training.

The person was able to communicate with the provider and volunteers because staff supported them consistently and understood their individual communication needs.

The provider encouraged and enabled the person to take positive risks.

Right Culture:

Staff turnover was very low, which supported the person to receive consistent care from staff who knew them well. The person had been supported by the provider and the same two volunteers for a number of years.

The person led an inclusive and empowered life because of the ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of the provider. However, they were not involved in any focus or engagement groups and best practice guidance in relation to supporting people with learning disabilities and autistic people. Best practice guidance was not always followed in relation to terminology and dignified terms.

The providers knowledge and skills in relation to regulations, legislation and best practice was lacking which impacted on improvements.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (report published 1 June 2021). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found the provider remained in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 24 March 2021. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.

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 has not changed. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Wintofts Residential Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to medicines, infection, prevention and control and governance at this inspection.

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

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.