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Archived: Willow Community Care

Overall: Requires improvement read more about inspection ratings

24b Church Lane, East Finchley, London, N2 8DT (020) 8883 9330

Provided and run by:
Willow Care Homes Limited

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Background to this inspection

Updated 23 December 2017

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, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 2 November 2017 and was announced. The provider was given one week's notice because the location provides a personal care service to people in a supported tenancy, we needed to be sure that a member of the management team would be available to assist with the inspection.

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Before the inspection we reviewed all the information we held about this service including notifications made by the provider. As part of the inspection we visited the house where the three people who use the service live. We spoke with the three people and met with the manager, the director of Willow Care Homes Ltd and a senior support worker.

We observed interaction between staff and people using the service. We also looked at records. We carried out pathway tracking where we read the care plans, risk assessments and all care records for two of the three people and checked whether their planned care and support was being provided.

We checked medicines storage and administration. We looked at fire and health and safety records. We looked at records of staff training and supervision.

After the inspection we spoke with two professionals involved with the service, one member of staff and a relative of a person using the service by telephone to seek their views on the quality of care provided.

Overall inspection

Requires improvement

Updated 23 December 2017

This inspection took place on 2 November 2017. The inspection was announced. This was because we wanted to make sure the manager and nominated individual were available to attend the inspection.

Willow Community Care is a service providing personal care and support to people in supported living accommodation. The service is run by Willow Care Homes Ltd who also operate a care home nearby. At the time of this inspection Willow Community Care was providing care and support to three people who lived together in supported accommodation.

The last inspection of the service was on 28 November 2016 where we found four breaches of legal requirements. The provider had not ensured suitable training for staff to carry out their roles. They did not have sufficient oversight and good governance of the service. They had not ensured all risks to people's health were addressed in risk assessments and they also failed to notify the Care Quality Commission of events that they were required to notify by law.

At this inspection we found that the manager was aware of required notifications and there had not been any incidents that were required to be reported since our last inspection. Risk assessments had improved and we found the manager was managing risks to people's health and safety. Staff had adequate knowledge about safeguarding people from abuse.

Most of the time there was one member of staff working to provide support to people but the manager and other members of staff worked as a second staff member on duty when needed to ensure people could attend appointments and go out when they wanted to.

There was no registered manager at the time of the inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. The deputy manager had been promoted to manager of the service a few months previously but had not yet applied to be registered with the Care Quality Commission. The director informed us that the manager would be applying for registration shortly after the inspection.

Staff training was by online learning. First aid training was not face to face training which meant that staff were not all properly trained in first aid. Training was highlighted at the last inspection but the provider had not made sufficient improvements in ensuring that they had an oversight of staff training needs.

People enjoyed their lives and were happy with the support provided to them. They had support to go out and follow their own interests, both individually and together. They had good social lives. Staff enjoyed working with people and felt supported in their roles.

People had good support with their diet and maintaining their health.

The provider had not supported the new manager with training, supervision or by providing the guidance that was needed in order to ensure compliance with the fundamental standards. They had not ensured records were regularly reviewed and up to date.

The manager carried out internal audits regularly and had made improvements in medicines management and personcentred care since the last inspection.

There was one breach of regulation in relation to governance of the service. You can see what action we required the provider to take at the end of the full report.