The Care Quality Commission
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Sister Winifred Laver Promoting Independence Centre

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Falla Park Road, Felling, Gateshead, NE10 9HP (0191) 433 6620

Provided and run by:
Gateshead Council

Important: This service was previously registered at a different address - see old profile

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

Date of assessment 8 June 2026. Sister Winifred Laver Promoting Independence Centre provides accommodation with personal care for up to 60 people. The service provided short-term rehabilitation to people with a diverse range of needs. When we inspected 16 people were living there. At the last inspection in November 2025, the service was rated requires improvement. At this inspection, we found improvements had been made and rated the service good. The provider was no longer in breach of regulations relating to good governance.

Most staff feedback was positive and confirmed further improvements with communication and support since the last inspection.

The service did not have a registered manager. The provider was acting to appoint a suitable person to this role. Management analysed incidents, accidents, complaints and allegations of abuse to identify trends and learning.

Care plans and risk assessments had been reviewed and were now more focused around people’s rehabilitation goals. The provider was working with partners to develop these further to ensure people achieved their goals. This was due to limitations with data sharing; the provider was working jointly with healthcare partners to address this.

Medicines were managed safely. There were enough trained staff to meet people’s needs. Staff told us support, teamwork and communication had got better. Improved recording was in place for 'as required' medicines and medicines care plans were more personalised.

During an assessment under our new approach

Date of assessment 11 to 13 August 2025. Sister Winifred Laver Promoting Independence Centre provides accommodation with personal care for up to 60 people. When we inspected 9 people were living there, 2 of whom were new admissions. The provider had made progress since the last inspection and was no longer in breach of regulations relating to safe care and treatment, staffing and person-centred care. There was a continuing breach of regulation relating to good governance. This was due to care plans and risk assessments requiring further development, so they were accurate and fully reflected people's rehabilitation needs, preferences and outcomes. The consistency and quality of audits had improved. Although, whilst audits were now identifying areas for improvement, they had not successfully addressed the shortfalls in the quality of care planning.

The daily 'huddles' and handovers included professionals to help promote consistent information sharing.

Mental Capacity Act (MCA) assessments and best interests decisions were now being completed for decisions where people lacked capacity to consent. The provider now had implemented a structured approach to investigating and analysing incidents and accidents. Management were starting to identify trends and learning from their investigations. However, a more detailed analysis was required to identify and address the root cause of incidents.Safeguarding concerns were now being reported and investigated in a timely way.

There were enough staff deployed to meet people's needs. New staff were recruited safely. Staff gave mixed feedback about communication, support and teamwork. However, they acknowledged improvements had been made since the last inspection. Risk assessments were now being completed. However, some needed further development to clearly identify the measures required to reduce the impact of potential risks. This service has been in Special Measures since 17 March 2025.

The provider demonstrated improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.

During an assessment under our new approach

Sister Winifred Laver Promoting Independence Centre provides accommodation with personal care for up to 60 people. 52 people were using the service when we visited, some people were living with dementia. This unannounced assessment was due to whistle blowing concerns about poor medicines management and poor care at the service. We visited the service on 5 and 10 February 2025 and found breaches of the regulations relating to safe care and treatment, person-centred care, consent to care, good governance and staffing. Ineffective leadership and a lack of oversight had led to significant shortfalls, placing people at risk of harm, including poor record keeping, ineffective risk management and not reporting serious incidents. Management had not learnt from previous experiences and taken robust action to address known issues. Risks associated with people’s individual circumstances had not been managed appropriately. Medicines were not managed safely. Staff did not feel valued or supported and told us management did not listen to their concerns. The provider had not sought appropriate consent for restrictions on people lacking capacity, such as for bed and chair sensors. Care plans were not person-centred, accurate or up to date. Falls, incidents, accidents and allegations of abuse were not effectively analysed to learn lessons. The service has been placed into special measures. The purpose of special measures is to ensure that services providing inadequate care make significant improvements. Special measures provide a framework within which we use our enforcement powers in response to inadequate care and provide a timeframe within which providers must improve the quality of the care they provide.