Westfield Lodge Care Home

Updated 22 March 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors and an expert by experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type:

Westfield Lodge Care Home 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.

Westfield Lodge Care Home accommodates up to 54 people in one adapted building. There were 40 people using the service at the time of the inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection:

The inspection was unannounced.

What we did:

Providers are required to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We reviewed the information the provider had sent us and other information we held about the service. This included notifications about events that had happened at the service, which the provider was required to send us by law. For example, safeguarding concerns, serious injuries and deaths that had occurred at the service.

We spoke with eight people who used the service and four relatives. We observed care and support in communal areas to assess how people were supported by staff. We spoke with six members of staff, the deputy manager, registered manager and regional manager.

We viewed five people’s care records to confirm what we had observed and staff had told us. We looked at how medicines were stored, administered and recorded for six people. We also looked at documents that showed how the home was managed which included training and induction records for staff employed at the service. The registered manager showed us how they monitored and managed the service.

Updated 22 March 2019

About the service:

Westfield Lodge Care Home is a care home that was providing personal and nursing care to 40 people at the time of the inspection.

People’s experience of using this service:

People were supported by safely recruited staff who had the skills and knowledge to provide safe and effective support. People were supported safely to manage their risks, whilst promoting their independence. Medicines were managed safely. Effective care planning was in place which guided staff to provide support that met people’s needs which were in line with their preferences.

People consented to their care and were supported in their best interests in the least restrictive way possible. People were supported to eat and drink sufficient amounts in line with their assessed needs.

People’s diverse needs had been planned for, which ensured people received individualised care in all aspects of their life. Professional advice had been sought and acted on to ensure people’s health and wellbeing was maintained. Systems were in place to ensure people received consistent care across the service and from other professionals.

Staff were kind and caring towards people and promoted choices in line with individual communication needs. People were treated with dignity and their right to privacy was upheld. Advocacy services were utilised to ensure people were supported by independent representatives when making choices about their care.

People were supported to be involved in hobbies and interests that were important to them. People and their relatives were involved in the planning of their care, which meant people were supported in line with their preferences. Complaints systems were in place, which people and relatives knew how to use. People’s advanced decisions had been gained in respect of their end of life.

Systems were in place to monitor the service, which ensured that people’s risks were mitigated and lessons were learnt when things went wrong. There was an open and person-centred culture within the service. People and staff approached the registered manager who acted on concerns raised to make improvements to people’s care.

The service met the characteristics of Good in all areas; more information is available in the full report below.

Rating at last inspection:

Requires Improvement (report published 19 October 2017)

Why we inspected:

At the last comprehensive inspection in September 2017 the service was rated requires improvement overall (in all of the key questions of Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and well led). The key question Well Led was rated inadequate. The provider was meeting the regulations. However, we found some improvements were needed in medicines management, risk management, people’s experience during meals and the governance systems needed to be imbedded and sustained at the service.

At this inspection the required improvements had been made and the service had met the characteristics of Good in all areas. The overall rating is Good.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor the service through the information we receive.

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