Background to this inspection
Updated
4 March 2021
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.
As part of CQC’s response to care homes with outbreaks of coronavirus, we are conducting reviews to ensure that the Infection Prevention and Control practice was safe and the service was compliant with IPC measures. This was a targeted inspection looking at the IPC practices the provider has in place.
This inspection took place on 16 February 2021 and was unannounced.
Updated
4 March 2021
About the service
Wensley House is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to 27 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 48 people. Wensley House accommodates people in one adapted building across three floors.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People told us they were safe. Suitable arrangements were in place to protect people from abuse and avoidable harm. Staff understood how to raise concerns and knew what to do to safeguard people. Risks to people were identified and assessed to keep them safe. Sufficient numbers of staff were available to support people living at Wensley House and to meet their needs. Recruitment practices were robust to make sure the right staff were recruited. Medication practices were safe, and people received their medicines as prescribed. People were protected by the prevention and control of infection. Findings from this inspection showed lessons were being learned and improvements made when things go wrong.
Improvements were required to ensure enough members of staff were appropriately trained relating to first aid and medication. The latter specifically related to night staff. Improvements were also required to make sure all staff received regular formal supervision. The dining experience for people using the service was not always as positive as it should be, however this improved on the second day of inspection. People received enough food and drink to meet their needs. People were supported to access healthcare services and receive ongoing healthcare support. The service worked with other organisations to enable people to receive effective care and support.
People were in general 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.
People and those acting on their behalf told us they were treated with care, kindness, respect and dignity. Staff had a good rapport and relationship with the people they supported, and observations demonstrated what people told us.
Though each person had a plan of care detailing their care needs and how these were to be met by staff, shortfalls were identified with some of the information recorded. People were supported with ‘in-house’ social activities, but improvements were required to enable people to access the local community, particularly as the service’s proximity to Epping town centre and Epping Forest is close. The service is not fully compliant with the Accessible Information Standard to ensure it meets people’s communication needs. People and those acting on their behalf were confident to raise issues and concerns and felt listened to. At the time of this inspection, no-one was requiring end of life care support. The management team knew how to seek support from the local palliative care team.
Governance arrangements were much improved, but progress was still required to make sure improvements made were sustained in the longer term.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
The last rating for this service was ‘Requires Improvement’ (published February 2019) and there were three breaches of regulation. Enforcement action was completed whereby the Care Quality Commission imposed conditions on the provider’s registration. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection in December 2018 to show what they would do and by when to improve.
The service remains rated requires improvement, but the Commission acknowledges significant improvements have been made. This service has been rated requires improvement for the last three consecutive inspections. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations, but some improvements were still required.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the service’s previous rating.
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.