Archived: Villcare Limited - Eastbury Road

About the service

Villcare Ltd Eastbury Road is a care home providing personal care to two people. The home is a bungalow with a garden and access to the local town. Most people who were living at Villcare Ltd Eastbury Road had a physical and learning disabilities, including autistic people. The home can support up to four people.

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

Right Support

¿ People had not gone out since lock down ended to pursue their interests and do things they enjoyed. Plans and strategies had not been made to promote this part of people’s well-being and to explore their interests.

¿ People received their medicines as prescribed. But staff did not have training on how to administer one person’s medicine. Nor had this person been consulted with and involved in the plans of how this would happen.

¿ Meetings took place with people about their support and care. But these did not cover all aspects of their care, their goals and aspirations. The records of these meetings were not in formats people themselves could understand.

Right Care

¿ The physical environment of the home looked tired and in need of redecoration. Spaces in the home were not personalised, this included people’s bedrooms. Most of the living rooms had information for staff to read and look at, like you may expect to see in a staff room. Plans had not been made to help people to utilise and enjoy their home and garden.

¿ Staff were polite with people and they checked they were okay. However, staff did not speak with people in a social way or help them follow their interests.

¿ There were gaps in staff’s knowledge in terms of promoting people’s safety from experiencing potential abuse and harm. Understanding the risks people faced and responding to a potential fire.

¿ The registered manager had ensured various building safety checks had been completed. There were enough staff to meet peoples care needs.

Right Culture

¿ The leadership of the home had not empowered people to have ownership of their home. The culture was not fully person centred and failed to focus on the individual, their interests or advocate on their behalf when necessary.

¿ When new people came to stay at the home, people were not consulted with in a meaningful way, to see if they were happy about this. We also found shortfalls when a new person came to stay at the home in terms of assessing risks and making plans to support them and others to be safe.

¿ The provider and registered manager’s audits to check the quality of care provided were not effective in relation to monitoring the standard of care people received, responding to incidents and changes in need and considering if people had full risk assessments and plans for staff to follow.

¿ The service lacked pro-active leadership. The provider and registered manager did not keep up with changes to regulatory expectations and development of best practice standards. They failed to assess people’s experiences to see if improvements to practice and systems could be made.

¿ People were not being given opportunities small or large to promote their interests and make plans for the future. The ethos of the leadership of the home had not considered whether the service reflected these values nor were they making plans to do so.

¿ The registered manager told us they were committed to making improvements and to make changes.

Based on our review of safe and well led the service was not able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published in 5 April 2018).

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection to assess whether the service is applying the principles of Right support right care right culture. This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

We have identified breaches in relation to supporting people to be safe, ensuring they have a person-centred care experience and how well led the home is.

Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to the more serious concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

Villcare –Eastbury Road is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. Villcare –Eastbury Road accommodates four people who have a learning disability. The service is not registered to provide nursing care. At the time of this inspection there were three people living at the home.

The care service has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.

The service had a manager who was registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Relatives told us they were happy with how people were looked after at the service and they felt the service was safe and met people`s needs. They told us they liked the way staff supported people to live their lives with choices and opportunities.

People were involved in developing their care and support plans and relatives where appropriate were invited to participate in developing and reviewing people`s care and support plans.

Relatives and staff told us there were enough staff to meet people`s needs and support them with the activities they chose to do.

People were provided with opportunities to pursue their hobbies and interests both within the service and in the wider community.

People were supported by staff who were trained and received regular supervision. People were encouraged to eat a healthy, balanced diet and they had access to healthcare professionals when needed. Staff understood the importance of giving people choice and listening to their views and opinions.

Staff members understood their roles and responsibilities and were supported by the management team to maintain and develop their skills and knowledge.

People’s personal care records were kept securely to ensure unauthorised people did not have access to them. Staff spoke with people in a kind, patient and friendly way and people were treated in a dignified manner. Staff consistently ensured people’s social needs were met, and people felt staff listened to them and valued their views.

There was a complaints process available and people were asked for their views at meetings. In addition relatives told us they were regularly asked to give feedback about the service and they felt positive about how the home was managed.

The registered manager were passionate about providing the best possible support for people and they actively supported people and staff to achieve this. There were quality assurance systems in place which were used effectively to identify any areas in need of improvement. Actions were taken to improve the quality of the care people received when it was necessary.

We found that people's care needs were met appropriately. There was a system for the safe administration and management of medicines. The service operated an effective recruitment procedure and there was a system in place to assess and monitor the quality of service. The records were kept safely and securely.

People who were able to communicate told us that they liked living in the home. They said that their health needs were well met, and staff listened to them, and provided them with the care and support they needed. One person commented, 'I am happy about the staff. I'm happy about living here too.' Another said, 'My bed gets changed every Friday; the staff help me.'