West Farm Care Centre

Updated 9 December 2020

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 27 November 2020 and was announced.

Updated 9 December 2020

About the service: West Farm Care Centre is a residential care home providing personal care and accommodation to 50 people, some of whom were living with a dementia, at the time of the inspection.

People’s experience of using this service: Since the last inspection widespread improvements had been made. However, although staff had spoken to people and their relatives regarding their preferences and wishes for end of life care, this was not well documented in people’s care plans. We have made a recommendation about end of life care planning.

The clinical aspects of end of life care were well documented. A visiting palliative care nurse explained how proactive staff were in having conversations with people and their family members.

Care plans were detailed and promoted people’s independence and individual preferences for how they wanted to be supported. Risk assessments were completed and steps taken to minimise risk.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People, and their visitors, told us they felt safe and well cared for. A range of activities were offered which people enjoyed, especially singing and the variety of animals that visited.

Medicines were well managed and safely stored and administered. Healthcare professionals were involved as needed and people were supported to maintain a healthy, balanced diet. Specialised diets and specific dietary requirements were catered for.

There were enough staff to make sure people’s needs were met. Staff were also able to spend quality time with people chatting and enjoying each other’s company.

Appropriate training had been offered which supported the improvements made since the last inspection.

There was an ethos of team working to ensure continuous learning and improvements. Staff said they were well supported and thought the management team were approachable.

Governance systems had been embedded since the last inspection which had led to the required improvements being made. A culture of continuous learning and improvement was being established and an action plan was in place to drive this forward.

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 requires improvement and we identified four breaches of regulation. (Report published 6 June 2018). 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 improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected: This was a scheduled inspection based on the previous rating of requires improvement. The service has improved its rating from requires improvement and is now rated good.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor the service and complete a further inspection in line with the rating of good. If any information of concern is received, we may inspect sooner.