• Care Home
  • Care home

Westcliff House

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

24-26 West Cliff, Dawlish, Devon, EX7 9DN (01626) 867349

Provided and run by:
Mrs Christine Dodge

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 25 January 2020

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.

Inspection team

One inspector undertook this inspection.

Service and service type

Westcliff House 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.

Notice of inspection

The first day of this inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

Before our inspection we reviewed the information we held about the home. This included correspondence we had received, and notifications submitted by the home. A notification must be sent to the Care Quality Commission every time a significant incident has taken place. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We also sought feedback from the local authority’s quality assurance improvement team.

We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 16 people who use the service about their experience of the care provided as well as two relatives of one person living at the service. We spoke with 10 staff, including the registered manager, assistant manager, care staff, the cook and a housekeeping member of staff. We reviewed the care records for four people with more complex support needs and sampled some records for a fifth person. We looked at people’s medicines records and at records relating to the management of the service, including two staff personnel files, staff training records, complaints records and quality assurance audits.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 25 January 2020

About the service

Westcliff House is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care for up to 34 people living with learning disabilities and/or mental health needs. The service is divided into two wings. The Sidborough Wing provides a more traditional care home setting substantially for people with learning disabilities, some of whom are older people who have lived there for many years. The Roborough wing is set up as individual flats for people living with learning disabilities or long-term mental health needs. At the time of our visit there were 25 people living at the service.

The service was registered prior to the implementation of Registering the Right Support, a set of principles and values that underpin best practice for services supporting people living with a learning disability and/or autism. However, the service adheres to these to ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.

The service was a large home, bigger than most domestic style properties. It was registered for the support of up to 34 people which is larger than current best practice guidance. However, the size of the service having a negative impact on people was mitigated by the building design fitting into the residential area and the other large domestic homes of a similar size. Staff were discouraged from wearing anything that suggested they were care staff when coming and going with people.

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

Improvements had been made since the previous inspection in December 2018 to how the service supported people to manage risks to their health, safety and welfare. Care plans and risk assessments described risks associated with people’s needs and guided staff about how to support people in a way that mitigate these. Care plans also held more detail about people's abilities and their preferences with how they were supported.

People’s medicines were managed safely.

People told us they enjoyed the food provided and their choice of evening meals had improved since the pervious inspection.

People told us they felt safe living at Westcliff House. The relatives we spoke with also felt the service was safe; they described the staff as “wonderful” and “amazing”. Staff were aware of their responsibilities to protect people and to report concerns should they suspect someone was being abused, mistreated or neglected.

There were enough staff available to support people. They had been safely recruited and received the training they needed for their role. People told they had a good relationship with the staff. One person said, “The staff are lovely and very supportive. They spend time talking with us.”

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. Staff told us people had capacity to make decisions and choices about how they wished to live their lives. Staff respected people’s decisions, even if those decisions were ones that others might think of as not being good decisions. The service worked closely with other care professionals, such the community mental health team, GPs and community nurses, to ensure people received the support they required.

The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent. The registered manager told us people had few goals and ambitions, with people happy to remain stable and well. This was something the service was looking to develop, to encourage people to think about their future and things they would like to achieve.

The registered manager had continued to develop a service's quality assurance system and service improvement plan. They told us how these used it to review the outcomes of their regular safety and quality audits, as well as to record when improvements were required and completed. People and staff told us the service was well managed. There were clear lines of accountability and each member of staff was aware of their role and responsibilities.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The service was previously inspected in December 2018 and rated requires improvement. The report was published on 11 January 2019. We found one breach of regulation relating to risk management. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.