Wealstone Residential Care Home

Updated 18 September 2021

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.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

Wealstone Residential 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.

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

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 and professionals who work with the service. This included 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 undertook a routine monitoring activity and sought assurances from the registered manager about the concerns we found at our last inspection. During this process we reviewed records and spoke with six people who used the service by telephone. We also received written feedback from eleven relatives about their experience of the care provided.

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

We used all of this information to plan and inform our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with one professional who regularly visits the service. We also spoke with seven members of staff including the registered manager, assistant manager, senior care workers, care workers, an activity worker and domestic staff. 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 reviewed a range of records. This included six people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at five 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 provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.

Updated 18 September 2021

About the service

Wealstone Residential Care Home was providing personal care to 38 people at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 42 people across two separate wings, each of which has separate adapted facilities. One of the wings specialises in providing care to people living with dementia.

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

Since our last inspection, improvements had been made and the service was no longer in breach of regulations.

Systems were now in place to manage risks to people’s health and wellbeing and medicines processes were safe.

Care plans contained detailed person-centred information to ensure staff could meet the preferences of people receiving care. There were now plenty of activities available for people to engage in. This enabled people to pursue their social and leisure interests and reduce the risk of social isolation. The communication needs of people were known, ensuring information could be presented to people in the most appropriate format.

People received a caring service and felt supported and valued as individuals. People told us they were treated with respect and staff upheld their privacy and dignity during personal care. People were supported by staff who knew them well and trusting relationships had been formed.

The service was well-led, and staff felt supported by an open and honest culture. Staff were motivated to deliver a high standard of care and received training appropriate to their job role. The registered manager worked with other professionals to ensure positive health outcomes were achieved for people.

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

Rating at last inspection (and update)

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 24 March 2020) and there were multiple breaches of regulation. 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

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 04, 06 and 11 February 2020. Breaches of legal requirements were found.

We undertook this focused inspection to check the provider had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Caring, Responsive and Well-led which contain those requirements.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Wealstone Residential Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.