Archived: Widnes Hall

Updated 16 November 2015

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 was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

The inspection was unannounced and took place 18 August and 2 September 2015.

The inspection was undertaken by two adult social care inspectors on the first day and two adult social care inspectors and an inspection manager on the second day.

Prior to our inspection the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give us some key information about the service, for example what the service does well and any improvements they plan to make.

Before the inspection we checked with the local authority safeguarding and commissioning teams and the local branch of Health watch, for any information they held about the service. We considered this together with any information held by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) such as notifications of important incidents or changes to registration.

During the inspection we talked with 27 of the people who used the service. People were not always able to communicate verbally with us but expressed themselves in other ways such as by gesture or expression. We spoke with five of their relatives. We talked with nine staff members as well as the registered manager, deputy manager and the home administrator.

On our first visit we looked at records including six care files as well as four staff files and audit reports. During our second visit we looked at a further five care files and reviewed the dependency levels of the people who lived in the home.

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.

We looked around the building and facilities and with their permission, looked in some people’s bedrooms.

Updated 16 November 2015

The inspection was unannounced and took place on18 August and 2 September 2015.Widnes Hall was last inspected in December 2013 when it was found to be compliant with all the regulations which apply to a service of this type.

Widnes Hall is a care home which provides care and support for a maximum of 68 people. The accommodation is provided in four separate units, two at ground floor level with two more units on the first floor. Two units provide care and support for up to 36 people who are living with dementia. The two other units provide accommodation for up to 32 people who need residential care and support

The home is approximately one mile from the centre of Widnes. The two-storey property is purpose built and is close to shops, public transport and other local amenities.

There is a registered manager at Widnes Hall. 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.

There was not always sufficient staff to meet the needs of the people who lived in the home. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.

Despite staffing levels being insufficient staff worked extremely hard to keep people safe, and were kind, patient and understanding towards the people they cared for. The staff team was stable and there was minimal use of agency staff who in special circumstances were funded by the local authority. This meant that the staff on duty did have clear knowledge and insight into people’s care needs and behaviours, which reduced some of the risk associated with the low staffing levels.

We found that care was provided in a well decorated and maintained environment. Staff went to considerable lengths to make sure that people who lived there experienced it as their own home and were able to enjoy living a life of their choice.

We saw that people living at the home were involved in the planning and reviewing of their care.

Staff knew about the need to safeguard people and were provided with the right information they needed to do this. They knew what to do if they had a concern.

Staff were well-trained.

People who lived in the home, their relatives and staff told us that the home was well managed.