Sun Woodhouse Care Home

Sun Woodhouse provides care and support for up to 24 older people. There were 17 people living at the service when we visited, most of whom were living with dementia.

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

The lift had not been adequately maintained, which placed people at risk due to this equipment safety check having not been completed as per recommended guidance. These works were completed following our inspection in July 2023.

Audits were taking place and the regional operations manager visited the home and produced their own reports.

Staff told us the culture in the home had improved over the months since the home manager joined. They felt able to contribute their opinions and effective staff support was clearly important to the manager.

Staff had a visible presence throughout the home and feedback we received demonstrated there were sufficient numbers of staff. People provided positive feedback about the care they received from staff who had been safely recruited.

Risk assessments were in place which identified how risks should be reduced. Staff were able to demonstrate they understood people’s individual risks and action needed. Some staff were not clear about their responsibilities in the event of a fire. This was shared with the home manager who took immediate action.

Medicines were safely managed as the administration and recording process was sufficiently robust. Some gaps were identified in recording associated with topical creams, although people told us these items were administered as prescribed.

People were protected from the risk of abuse. Staff had received safeguarding training and understood signs of abuse and how to report any concerns.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People told us they were listened to and in control of their day-to-day routines. If they had any concerns, they were able to report these to staff or to the manager who they spoke positively about.

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 the service under the previous provider was good, published on 14 August 2019.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

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.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed to requires improvement.

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

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect. .

Sun Woodhouse provides care and support for up to 24 older people. There were 18 people living at the service when we visited, most of whom were living with dementia.

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

People and relatives told us the service provided safe care and people's feedback was consistently positive about the support offered by staff. One person said, “It is a happy place.”

The provider completed person centred assessments and care plans were updated in response to changes. Some aspects of the recording of risk assessments and care plans required further detail, but this was not found to have impacted on people using the service and the provider immediately addressed the issues found.

Medication was administered safely by staff who had been trained and were competent to do so.

People were supported to eat and drink enough to maintain a balanced diet, including people who had specific dietary requirements.

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

There were enough staff on each shift to support people and robust recruitment checks were carried out before staff started working at the service. Staff received induction, training and supervision to ensure that they had the right skills and abilities to support people.

There was a varied and regular programme of activities happening at the home which ensure people were offered meaningful interaction and stimulation.

People and relatives felt staff were kind and caring and treated them with dignity and respect when providing care.

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 culture within the service, where people, staff and healthcare professionals could approach the registered manager who acted on concerns or suggestions.

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 good (published 23 January 2018). Since this rating was awarded the registered provider of the service has changed. We have used the previous rating to inform our planning and decisions about the rating at this inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on a change in this location’s registration.

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.