Archived: Westbourne Care Homes

This service was last inspected in December 2015 and was rated as good. This unannounced inspection took place on 19 October 2017 and we found that the service remained rated as good.

The service was required to have a registered manager. 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 current registered manager had been in place at the date of our last inspection.

Why the service is rated good

People were protected because risk assessments had been completed to ensure people were protected from unnecessary risks but were able to experience new activities.

People's personal care and support needs were met by support workers who were available at the times needed.

People felt secure and safe in the service and with their support workers. Support workers had knowledge of the systems in place to protect people, and supported people to understand how they could protect themselves from the risk of abuse.

The provider‘s processes for recruitment of support workers complied with legal requirements. The provider also ensured the support workers employed received an induction and training to meet the needs of people using the service.

People were supported to receive the medicines prescribed by their healthcare professionals by support workers who had clear guidance about how to assist them.

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

People chose and were assisted to prepare some of their own food and drink.

People's health needs were regularly assessed and where necessary people were supported to access local health care professionals to ensure their health care needs were met.

People’s privacy and dignity needs were respected by the provider and support workers.

People contributed to the contents of their support plans which were regularly reviewed by the provider.

People were encouraged to raise concerns or make complaints about the service they received and were supported by support workers to do so.

People knew the registered manager and understood their role at the service.

The provider had management systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of the service and was seeking ways to further improve performance and develop support workers and to increase opportunities for people.

This is a summary of what we found.

Is the service safe?

We saw that people are treated with respect and dignity by the staff. We saw that people were given choice in their care and all the relatives we spoke with told us they were very happy with the care at the home and felt their relatives were safe. All of the people we spoke with told us they felt safe. Safeguarding procedures are robust and staff understood how to safeguard the people they supported.

We saw that the home had systems in place to make sure that managers and staff learn from any accidents, complaints, whistleblowing or investigations. This reduces the risks to people and helps the service to continually improve.

We spoke with staff about Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). This applies to all care homes. The registered manager told us there had been no applications and showed us the policy and procedures they followed. They told us that staff had received relevant training and had access to the policy and procedures. Staff told us that they had received this training.

The service was safe, clean and hygienic. The home had an effective infection control system. Equipment was well maintained and serviced regularly, so preventing any unnecessary risks.

Is the service effective?

Some of the people we spoke with told us they were involved in decisions about their care. One person commented, “I have a keyworker and she knows me. I can ask for things”. People explained how their care and welfare needs were met. People told us that they had support with health appointments and felt that the service was flexible. One person told us that, “If I was not well I would ask the staff for a doctor”.

Is the service caring?

We were able to observe the experiences of people. We saw that staff treated people with dignity and respect. We saw that staff communicated well with people and explained everything in a way that could be easily understood. Staff were attentive and interacted well with people. We observed that people were seen to respond positively to the staff throughout. Staff encouraged and supported people to make choices and be independent. On the day of the inspection people were going swimming at the local baths. We observed how staff encouraged people to go swimming. One person told us, “I love it here; I’m going swimming this afternoon”.

People, their relatives, friends and other professionals involved with the service had completed an annual satisfaction survey. One relative told us, “The staff are very good. I feel my relative is well cared for”.

People’s preferences, interests, aspirations and diverse needs had been recorded and care and support had been provided in accordance with people’s wishes.

Is the service responsive?

The home had held regular house meetings with people. People told us that they planned activities each week. We saw that people had regular holidays and had been involved in their local community.

One person told us, “I have lots of choice and a busy week here. I like the staff and living here”. We saw that people's requests for assistance were responded to in a timely way.

Is the service well-led?

We spoke with the registered manager. We found that there was an effective system to regularly assess the quality of service that people received. We found that the views and opinions of people using the service and their carers, family and relatives were also regularly recorded.

Staff told us they were clear about their roles and responsibilities. Staff had a good understanding of the ethos of the service and quality assurance processes were in place. This ensured that people received a good quality care service at all times.

People told us that they could make choices and decisions about their lives. One person said, “I went shopping in Birmingham to buy new clothes for my holiday; we are going to Greece again that is where we wanted to go”.

We saw that people were encouraged to do things for themselves so promoting their independence skills and self-esteem. People told us that cleaned their own rooms, made drinks and snacks and helped with jobs in the house.

Each person had a care plan so that staff knew how to support people in a way they wanted and that met their needs.

Arrangements were in place to ensure that people received their medication safely.

There were sufficient staff available to meet people’s needs and staff had received the training they needed so that they could care for people safely.

There were systems in place to monitor how the home was run so that people’s needs were met.