The Care Quality Commission
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Archived: Wealstone Residential Care Home

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Wealstone Lane, Upton, Chester, Cheshire, CH2 1HB (01244) 377900

Provided and run by:
Belong Limited

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

All Inspections

20 November 2014

During a routine inspection

This inspection took place on 20 November 2014 and was unannounced. The previous inspection took place on 4 October 2013. The provider had met the standards that were inspected.

The service has 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.

Wealstone is a single storey residential care home which has 42 single bedrooms, seven of which have en-suite facilities. Within the 42 beds, there is a separate 11 bedded unit called Bluebells that provides care for people with mild dementia.

People were supported by staff who had the required skills to promote their safety and welfare. Although there were shortfalls for training around the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), the registered manager had provisions in place to ensure all staff were to receive this training and had provided pre-reading course material to all staff. The provider had a rolling training programme in place.

The provider had robust and effective recruitment processes in place so that people were supported by staff of a suitable character. Staffing numbers were sufficient to meet the needs of the people who used the service.

Medicines were managed safely although medicines were not always kept at the required temperature when refrigerated.

People’s nutritional needs had been assessed and staff were knowledgeable of people’s nutritional needs. People told us they had plenty of choices with regards to what they wanted to eat.

People told us that staff were caring and we saw good interactions between people who used the service and the staff team. People were involved in the planning of their care and had an opportunity to say what was important to them.

We found that people had an opportunity to take part in the activities they enjoyed inside the home and out in the community. Relatives told us they had no complaints about the service. They told us they knew how to make a complaint and felt the manager was approachable.

Systems were in place for checking on the quality of service provided and processes were in place to deal with any areas identified for improvement. The manager had received several awards as a recognition of her good practice she began work at the home.

4 October 2013

During a routine inspection

We spoke with eight people who used the service and one relative. They all told us they were happy at Wealstone and had no concerns with the care and provided. Comments from them included: "They work hard and are very nice", "I help with the cooking and setting the table at mealtimes", "The staff are good and are on the ball", "We get together in the lounge and take part in activities. I enjoy it" and "The whole place is run beautifully. The food is nice too."

We found that the service carried out regular audits of its medication management system with processes in place to address any shortfalls identified.

We examined the induction plan and found that all areas of basic training such as safeguarding, moving and handling and fire safety had to be completed during this process. We looked at the staff rota and saw that the staff to service user ratio was good at all times of the day. The staff team consisted of care staff, domestic staff and activities co-ordinators. We found that staff were supported by the provider to gain National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) levels 2 and 3 in social care.

We found that people were given the right information of who to complain to if they weren't happy or had any concerns about the service.

We found that records were kept securely and could be located promptly when needed. This included staff personnel files and records for people who used the service.

25 January 2013

During a routine inspection

The people using the service who were able to tell us said that they were happy living in the home. Comments included; 'I am happy here, this is my home, the staff are pretty good', 'The staff are very good, they always treat me with respect', 'Very, very good, cannot fault it' and 'There isn't one who isn't smashing, they have a good sense of humour.' A visiting relative told us; 'It's lovely here.'

A visiting family member in Bluebells told us; 'There is a very nice atmosphere in here, I call at odd times and there is always something going on. It has been very good and they always keep us informed.'

A visiting district nurse told us; 'The care is very good, they are on the ball and communicate with us well.'

The staff members we spoke to were very positive about the home. One of them said; 'I love my job.'

The people we met throughout the home appeared relaxed, comfortable and at ease with the staff.

The home had an adult protection procedure [now called safeguarding] that complied with all of the relevant legislation and good practice guidelines. This was designed to ensure that any possible problems that arose were dealt with openly and people were protected from possible harm.

Information about the safety and quality of service provided was gathered on a continuous and ongoing basis from feedback from the people who used the service and their representatives, including their relative's and friends, where appropriate.

15 December 2011

During a routine inspection

We spoke with seven people who said that they were quite happy with the way the home consulted them about their care. One person said 'They do take an individual interest in you'. Another said 'They encourage you to do things, but with no pressure'. One of the people told us that before entering the home they had been visited by someone from the home to discuss what their needs were.

The people we spoke with said they were well looked after. Comments included: 'The staff have endless patience'; 'I never hear any of the residents complain about the care'; 'If I have any problems I speak to a staff member and they help me out'. A relative told us that staff were very attentive to people's health care needs and said 'They were aware when my father first started wheezing and immediately got the doctor for him'.

One person who was knitting in the lounge said 'Sometimes it's boring, I only read or knit'.

No one we spoke to had any complaints about the service and were quite confident that they could bring anything troubling them to the senior staff and it would be dealt with.

People who used the service were very complimentary about the staff. One person said 'The carer workers are like friends'. However, people thought that staff were overworked. One person we spoke with commented 'The staff appear to be overworked at mealtimes and they don't seem to have time to sit down and spend time talking to us'. Another person said 'The staff are overworked, they could do with more staff at meal times'.

The local authority commissioning team told us they had not received any complaints about the home and they had no concerns about the care provided.