- Care home
Winchester House
Assessment report published 28 April 2025
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Winchester House is a residential care home providing support for up to 9 older people, including people living with dementia. At the time of our assessment there were 9 people living in the service. This assessment was triggered by concerns we had received about the service. The assessment took place between 16 January 2025 and 26 February 2025, including 3 unannounced site visits on 16 and 23 January 2025 and 20 February 2025. For the quality statements we did not assess, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection (published 30 November 2018) to calculate the overall rating. At the last inspection, Winchester House was rated good and was previously rated requires improvement (published 27 June 2018). During this assessment we found concerns with the quality and safety of people’s care. We identified 2 breaches of the legal regulations in relation to the assessment and mitigation of risks and management oversight. Audits and checks were not independently picking up risks which placed people at risk of potential harm. People’s medicines were not always managed safely. Improvements were needed to ensure people were continually supported and had access to a safe environment. Staff worked well as a team, they knew people’s preferred routines, likes and dislikes. However, staffing levels were not being monitored to ensure people were continually supported by enough staff to provide person centred care.
During the assessment, the provider who was also the registered manager, told us what action they had made and were taking to address these concerns. This included having an increased presence at the service to provide support and guidance and more thorough audits and analysis of incidents. However, these improvements needed to be embedded to ensure people were consistently receiving safe care.
People's experience of this service
We spoke with 9 people living in the service,1 person’s relatives and 3 health and social care professionals from the Local Authority. We also reviewed feedback we had received from relatives through our website and reports carried out by visiting professionals.
People living in the service were positive about the quality of their care. One person told us, “Staff are very good.” They felt safe and were involved in planning their care and understood their rights. A person’s relative told us, “Anything happens [staff] will tell me straight away.” People described staff as kind and caring, identifying individual staff members who they got on especially well with, enjoying a conversation or a joke. However, people also felt that staff were busy at busy times and people thought they needed more staff. One person said, “I can see they are rushed at times, but put a brave face on.” Some people said how they knew about the service through previous contact, which had influenced their decision to use the service themselves. A relative described Winchester House as, “Friendly and nice…so small it feels like home.” People told us staff supported them with their medicines and could access local healthcare services when needed. People felt able to complain and were confident action would be taken and improvements would be made. People’s visitors were made welcome, and we saw them being offered drinks.