Woodvale

Updated 10 June 2023

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.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by 2 inspectors. An Expert by Experience also spoke to relatives on the telephone about their experience of the care provided. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is rented and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support service.

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 there was not a registered manager in post. A new manager had been in post for 2 weeks and told us of their intentions to apply to register. We will assess this application upon receipt.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. 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. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 4 people who used the service. We spoke with 3 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 5 staff including, the maintenance person, a care assistant, a senior care assistant, the manager and the operations manager. We reviewed 4 people's care records. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment practices. We reviewed various records relating to the management of the service including training records, safety checks, incidents, and accidents.

Updated 10 June 2023

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

About the service

Woodvale provides care and support to people living in a specialist 'extra care' housing scheme. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The service is described by the provider as sheltered housing with extra care provision. People supported have a range of needs, including learning disabilities, physical disabilities, mental health support needs and people living with dementia. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection, 19 people using the service received a regulated activity.

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

Right Support

People did not always have the support they needed to meet their health and wellbeing needs. The provider did not ensure enough improvements were made to address known medicines safety concerns to ensure people received their medicines safely. Health and wellbeing risks to people were not regularly reviewed to provide current guidance on how staff needed to support people. People's care plans were not always updated or reviewed periodically to ensure their preferences were met.

People were not supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives, and staff did not always support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests. Although the provider's policies and systems supported this practice, it was not effectively operated.

Right Care

People were not protected from abuse and improper treatment. The provider had not ensured all safeguarding concerns were shared with the local authority and CQC. Staff interactions with people were not always respectful and compassionate. Staff had not always completed the training they needed to meet people’s needs and relevant requirements.

Right Culture

There was not always a person-centred culture. Lessons were not always learnt from accidents and incidents. Systems and processes had not been followed to maintain quality standards and to continuously improve the service people received. Complaints and concerns had not been documented. Staff did not receive consistent supervisions and appraisals.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 13 November 2019).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, effective and well-led only. 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 good to inadequate. 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 Woodvale on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to safeguarding, people’s safety, ensuring people consent to the care they receive, person centred care, staffing, treating people with dignity and respect and good governance at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

Special Measures

The overall rating for this service is ‘Inadequate’ and the service is therefore in ‘special measures’. This means we will keep the service under review and, if we do not propose to cancel the provider’s registration, we will re-inspect within 6 months to check for significant improvements.

If the provider has not made enough improvement within this timeframe and there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall rating, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures. This will mean we will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service. This will usually lead to cancellation of their registration or to varying the conditions the registration.

For adult social care services, the maximum time for being in special measures will usually be no more than 12 months. If the service has demonstrated improvements when we inspect it and it is no longer rated as inadequate for any of the five key questions it will no longer be in special measures.