The Willows Nursing Home

Updated 28 October 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was conducted by one inspector.

Service and service type

The Willows Nursing Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. The Willows Nursing Home is a care home with nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection the registered manager had recently left the service. A new manager was in post and they were in the process of applying to be registered with CQC.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We looked at all the information we held about the provider, including the action plan from the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.

During the inspection

We looked at how medicines were managed. We looked at a range of records including the care records and assessments for three people, staff recruitment records and records of audits, checks and quality monitoring systems. We observed how people were cared for and supported and we met staff who included the manager and clinical lead.

Updated 28 October 2022

About the service

The Willows Nursing Home is a care home for up to 28 older people. At the time of our inspection 27 people were living at the service. The home is a converted house in a residential area and accommodates people across two floors. The Willows Nursing Home is part of St Dominic's Limited, a private company under the Aster Healthcare Ltd brand which has other care homes in England.

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

People received their medicines safely and as prescribed. There were suitable systems for checking medicines were being safely managed.

The risks people were exposed to had been assessed and planned for. People lived in a safe environment.

The environment was clean and there were systems to help prevent and control infection.

People were able to contribute their views about the service and the provider worked with others to make sure the staff followed best practice.

There were systems for managing the service including dealing with incidents, accidents, complaints, safeguarding alerts and other adverse events. There were regular audits and checks to help make sure quality was monitored and improved.

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.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 20 December 2021).

The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.

At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

At our last inspection we found breaches of regulations relating to safe care and treatment and good governance. We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Willows Nursing Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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