Westcliffe Villa

Updated 18 January 2024

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of 2 inspectors, an Expert by Experience and a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter. 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

Westcliffe Villa is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Westcliffe Villa is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed information we had about the service from the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We used the support of a BSL interpreter to help us understand the experience of people who communicated using sign language. For those who did not communicate with us we observed their interactions with staff to help us understand people’s experience of the support they received.

We communicated or spoke with 12 staff members. This included the registered manager, deputy manager, senior care staff and care staff. Some discussions with staff members were undertaken with the support of a BSL interpreter where BSL was the staff members first language. We reviewed a range of documentation, this included all or part of 8 people’s support plans, their risk assessment and daily communication records.

We also looked at 2 staff files including recruitment and supervision records. We reviewed records relating to the management of the service, quality assurance records and a variety of policies and procedures implemented by the provider.

Updated 18 January 2024

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

About the service

Westcliffe Villa is a residential care home providing accommodation support for up to 14 younger adults with learning disabilities and sensory disabilities. At the time of our inspection there were 13 people using the service.

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

Right Culture:

Some maintenance issues had not been addressed in a timely manner. For example, important utility inspections had not always been undertaken when they needed to be. Quality control systems had not always identified these concerns or led to them being addressed prior to the inspection.

The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensured that people using the service could lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives.

Staff kept people’s needs, preferences and wishes at the very centre of their interactions while also promoting their particular strengths to maximize independence as far as possible.

People and their families were involved in the planning and review of their care and kept updated.

Right Support:

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives. Staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Staff understood people had the right to make decisions for themselves and supported people to do so.

Staff focussed on people’s strengths and promoted these to the best of each person’s ability, enabling them to have a meaningful and fulfilling daily life. People were supported to be as independent as possible, participate in activities of daily living and to be a part of their local community.

People were supported to access healthcare services where appropriate. People were encouraged to eat healthily and were supported to make their own drinks and meals. People received their medicines as prescribed. Where there were incidents and accidents staff took the appropriate action to reduce the risk of events re-occurring.

Staff were recruited safely and there was enough staff to support people. There was enough PPE in place. Staff had completed infection prevention and control training and knew how to keep people safe.

Right Care:

People’s support plans did not always reflect their needs. However, this was addressed during the inspection.

People received kind and compassionate care that was person-centred and promoted their dignity and privacy because staff understood and responded to people’s individual needs.

Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse and had training on how to recognise and report abuse.

The service worked well with partner agencies to ensure people’s needs continued to be met in a timely and effective way to keep them safe and well.

People were able to communicate and interact comfortably because staff had the necessary skills and training to understand and support them.

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 good (published 28/04/2017)

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding. The overall rating for the service has changed from Good to Requires Improvement based on the findings of this inspection. We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the Safe and Well-Led sections of this full report.

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

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to good governance at this inspection. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.