• Care Home
  • Care home

Archived: Willowbank Nursing Home

Overall: Requires improvement read more about inspection ratings

5-7 Barwick Road, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS15 8SE (0113) 264 7924

Provided and run by:
Maria Mallaband Limited

Important: The provider of this service changed. See new profile

Latest inspection summary

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Our current view of the service

Requires improvement

Updated 29 May 2025

Date of assessment 4th June to 25 June 2025. Willowbank Nursing Home provides accommodation for people who require nursing or personal care. The service can accommodate up to 33 people, 28 people were living at Willowbank Nursing Home at the time of assessment. This assessment was rated under our previous methodology as inadequate. This assessment was undertaken to follow up on warning notices and requirements.

At the last assessment, the provider was in breach of legal regulations in relation to record keeping, managing risk, staffing levels and safe recruitment, management of medicines, person centred care, end of life planning, receiving and acting on complaints and systems and processes were not being managed appropriately. Improvements were found during this assessment and the provider was no longer in breach of these regulations.

The provider did not always work effectively in partnership with other health professionals and follow their recommendations, we did see that there was a delay in seeking assistance from health professionals and communication with relatives was not always undertaken in a timely manner. We identified occasional gaps in the providers responsiveness to people’s changing needs in support plan documentation. Food and fluid and repositioning charts were not always completed in the detail required to effectively monitor people’s needs. We saw limited evidence regarding people’s ability to use call bells, there was no evidence of support plans or risk assessments regarding these, and the provider was unable to undertake call bell audit to enable them to identify and action any concerns. The provider was responsive to our feedback and shared plans evidencing action taken.

Staff treated people kindly and gained consent before supporting people. The provider’s culture encouraged people and staff to feedback on the care provided and speak up about concerns. We saw that regular recreational engagement and social activities were available to people. Staff felt supported and treated fairly by the management team, we saw evidence of how people were encouraged to make choices, and this was clearly documented. We saw evidence of end-of-life plans being in place and these were clear regarding people wishes.

People's experience of the service

Updated 29 May 2025

We received mixed feedback from people and relatives regarding their experience at Willowbank. Relatives told us, “I think it’s well run. We were given a choice of rooms. I was aware of the rating of the home, but they took time to explain things to us and show us how they had improved since the last inspection. I am very dubious about care homes but I’m wrong. I would recommend this one and I think mum would, given she said it’s the best decision she has ever made.” And another stating “The care is variable. The staff are very good, caring, compassionate and empathetic. I would like more activities as she needs more stimulation. [relative] struggles with communication now and their cognitive skills aren’t so good. [relative] does have regular GP visits. Her feet are up sometimes. I think she looks unkempt sometimes as well. She used to be so immaculate. I would just like them to persevere with her. I do know [relative] is difficult, and I am sure they are doing everything they can.” People told us,“The staff are really nice they and the food is great” another said, “I get everything I want; however, I would like to go to pub and have a few drinks, it was being arranged, however nothing has happened yet.”