The White House Residential Care Home

Updated 22 November 2023

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.

This was a targeted inspection to check whether the provider was managing and overseeing the service effectively following the unexpected unavailability of the registered manager. We will assess all of the key question at the next comprehensive inspection of the service.

Inspection team

This inspection was undertaken by an inspector.

Service and service type

The White House Residential Care Home is a ‘care home’ without nursing care. 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.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection, the service did not have a registered manager who was managing the service. The registered manager was unavailable and the provider was in the process of recruiting an interim manager who, it was hoped, would apply for registration.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. 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 of this information to plan our inspection. We had requested information from the provider prior to the inspection and this information was used as part of the inspection plan.

During the inspection

We spoke with 4 members of staff and a provider representative. We also spoke with 4 people who use the service.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.

Updated 22 November 2023

About the service

The White House Residential Care Home is a care home providing personal care to up to 16 people. The service provides support to people living with a dementia, people with a physical disability, people with a sensory impairment, younger adults and older adults. At the time of our inspection there were 11 people using the service.

The home is newly opened and set across 2 floors. The home has good sized communal areas and a garden for people to use.

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

The service did not have a manager at the time we inspected; the new manager was due to commence the week after the inspection. As a result, we found that significant improvements were required to manage medicines safely, assess risk to people’s health, and to recruit staff safely.

We made a recommendation about the incident recording processes to make sure any lessons were learned and made recommendations about meeting people’s communication needs and dealing with complaints.

People were not supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service did not support this practice.

The home was clean and comfortable. A relative said, “The rooms are pristine and cleaned daily.” People were kept safe from the risk of abuse.

People and their relatives spoke highly about staff. One person said, “The staff are very good” and another person said, “Staff seem caring, you can talk to them about anything if you wanted to.”

People were supported to live healthy lives, and the food was freshly prepared and nutritious. Rooms were decorated to a high standard and were personalised. People were supported to visit the local area although they and relatives commented that more activities could be done within the home.

Methods to seek feedback from people that used the service, relatives and staff were planned but yet to be embedded. The home had a positive atmosphere and people were supported by staff that enjoyed their jobs.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 28 March 2023 and this is the first inspection.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to managing people’s medicines, assessing risk to people’s health and wellbeing, safe recruitment of staff, consent to care and treatment and the governance of the service 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.