Woodlands Park Care Centre

Updated 27 March 2020

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

Woodlands Park Care Centre is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. 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 reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority, the clinical commissioning group and professionals who work with the service. We checked records held by other agencies, such as the Information Commissioner’s Office, Companies House, the Food Standards Agency, the fire brigade and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.

We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

As there were concerns raised prior to the inspection, our site visit took place on two dates. The first part of our inspection was conducted during a night shift. The second part of our inspection was completed during a day shift on a weekend.

We spoke with nine members of staff including the chief executive officer, two registered managers, team leader, activities coordinator and four care workers. We received feedback from four people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We also spoke with three relatives. A visiting district nurse spoke with us regarding a person’s care. The local authority and fire brigade provided written information to support the inspection.

We reviewed a range of records. This included six people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the service to validate evidence found. We looked at documents related to the premises and quality assurance records. The registered managers sent us further written information about points we raised during our site visit. We also received written comments and feedback from a variety of staff, relatives and professionals who we had contacted.

Updated 27 March 2020

About the service

Woodlands Park Care Centre is a residential care home providing personal care to 26 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 35 people. The care home supports people living with dementia, mental health conditions, those with sensory impairments of physical disabilities.

The care home is set in rural Buckinghamshire and overlooks country fields. There is an extensive garden around the entire building. The care home accommodates people across two floors, each of which has separate adapted facilities. The ground floor has communal areas such as lounge areas, dining rooms and conservatories, as well as people’s bedrooms. The first floor has more people’s bedrooms.

The care home is part of the Forest Healthcare group.

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

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.

People were protected from abuse, neglect and discrimination. Risk assessments were appropriately completed for both people's care risks and any arising from the premises. Incidents and accidents were correctly recorded, investigated and acted upon. There was good evidence that incident and accident trends and themes were detected and shared within the care home and the larger care home group. There is an ongoing staff recruitment drive, but all shifts are filled with regular (agency) workers. People’s needs were met with the number of staff deployed on each shift.

People had enough food and drinks provided to them. Staff were knowledgeable, skilled and experienced. They received a good level of training, support and had regular checks of their competency. There was some training in more current topics such as sepsis. The care home was nicely decorated for the people who lived there. It was equipped to be dementia friendly, promote reminiscence and had tactile, visual and sensory experiences throughout. The service was compliant with the requirements set for gaining consent and restricting people’s liberty. People's preferences, likes and dislikes were recorded and respected. We made a recommendation about community healthcare professionals’ record-keeping.

Staff were caring and kind with people they supported. Relatives provided positive feedback when asked about care at the home. People were asked for their opinions, but some could not communicate to us their feedback. For those that could express their comments, they told us they liked living at the home, they liked the food and they "loved" the care staff. People's dignity and privacy was respected. People's independence, as far as possible, was maintained and promoted.

Care plans were very person-centred. There was good evidence of people's life history and their stories. There was a very active social life and a passionate and energetic activities coordinator who liked to explore new ideas and provide people with social inclusion. This ensured that they had a good lifestyle, even where they did not leave the premises. There was an appropriate complaints mechanism in place. The service checked for people's end of life preferences and ensured that they had a dignified and pain-free death.

There was a positive workplace culture. Staff were satisfied and happy, smiling and working hard to ensure people received good support. The registered managers and team leader were knowledgeable, experienced and took their responsibilities seriously. The service demonstrated transparency when things went wrong. There was a good governance and audit system in place, and an action plan was used to capture and mitigate risks and work through improvements. There was good evidence of partnership working. People, relatives, health or social care professionals and staff were involved in and had a say in how the service was operated and led.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 13 April 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

However, the inspection was prompted, in part, due to concerns received about people’s night time care, provision of adequate food and people’s access to drinks or fluids. A decision was made for us to conduct the inspection as originally scheduled, but to further examine those risks.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns. Please see the Safe and Effective sections of this full report for further details.

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.