Archived: Wood Hill Lodge

Updated 13 May 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

The inspection team was made up of three inspectors.

Service and service type

Wood Hill Lodge 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.

There was a manager in post and they were in the process of applying to register with CQC.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

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 reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority, clinical commissioning group and 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 used this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with five people who lived at Wood Hill Lodge about their experience of the care provided. We met with the manager, support manager, director, and safeguarding lead. We spoke with 16 members of 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 looked around the building to check environmental safety and cleanliness. We looked at written records, which included five people’s care records and three staff files. A variety of records relating to the management of the service were also reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. This included supervision and training data, and quality assurance records.

Updated 13 May 2021

About the service

Wood Hill Lodge is a care home that provides accommodation, nursing and personal care for adults living with physical disabilities and/or mental health issues, including older adults living with dementia. The home can accommodate up to 99 people in one purpose-built building over four floors, each of which has separate adapted facilities. At the time of this inspection there were 41 people residing at Wood Hill Lodge.

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

Safe recruitment procedures made sure staff were of suitable character and background. There were enough staff deployed to help people keep safe. There were systems in place to recognise and respond to any allegations of abuse. Medicines were stored safely and securely. There were effective systems in place to ensure people received their medicines as prescribed.

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 enjoyed the food served at Wood Hill Lodge and were supported to eat and drink to maintain a balanced diet. People were supported to maintain good health and have access to health and social care services as required.

Staff were provided with an effective induction and relevant training to make sure they had the right skills and knowledge for their role. Staff were supported in their jobs through meetings, supervisions and appraisals.

The service was well-led. The manager was responsive to any issues raised. There were effective systems in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service provided. The service had policies and procedures which reflected current legislation and good practice guidance.

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 8 January 2020).

Why we inspected

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.

We received concerns in relation to the management of staff and the standard of facilities provided to people. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, effective and well-led only.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns. Please see the safe, effective and well-led sections of this report. The overall rating for the service has remained as good.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Wood Hill Lodge 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.