Woodvale

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.

People live in their own self-contained flats within a purpose built complex. There are 48 self-contained flats and five bungalows. Managers and staff have access to two offices in the complex. There were 16 people living in their own flats who received personal care at the time of the inspection.

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

The service was working to an action plan to ensure improvements were made in the service. Some improvements were still needed, including completeness of records, staff training and ways to seek people’s and staffs’ views for the development of the service. The service had a registered manager in place and they demonstrated a commitment to delivering high quality care for people. The registered manager led with an open and approachable management style.

Systems and processes were in place to promote people’s safety and protect them from abuse and avoidable harm. Actions were taken in response to known risks to help reduce the risk of harm. Accidents and incidents were reported and reviewed to identify any improvements.

There were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs, however, some people told us morning calls could sometimes run late and some agency staff were used. The registered manager was recruiting additional staff to ensure people’s needs continued to be met. Recruitment processes were in place and followed to ensure staffs’ suitability for their job role had been checked.

People received their medicines as prescribed and steps were taken to help prevent and control infection.

Assessments covered people’s healthcare and well-being needs and informed people’s care plans. Advice and guidance from other healthcare professionals was used to ensure people’s needs were met effectively. People had access to a range of health and social care professionals as required.

Staff were trained in areas relevant to people’s needs and staff we spoke to were confident in their job roles.

People were supported to receive balanced meals and sufficient amounts to drink. Where people had specific dietary requirements, this was known and included in people’s care plans and risk assessments.

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.

People told us staff were kind. People were involved in the assessments of their care needs. People’s views and preferences for their care were known and respected by staff. People’s privacy, dignity was respected, and their independence promoted.

Care plans enabled people to receive personalised and responsive care. Staff took an interest in supporting people to socialise and enjoy their hobbies and interests. The service assessed any communication needs people may have to ensure they communication was effective.

There was a complaints process in place to ensure all complaints received would be investigated and managed.

The service understood the value of planning for any end of life care and had taken steps to understand people’s wishes and preferences in this area.

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

Rating at last inspection

This is the first inspection of this provider since they registered on 7 December 2018.

Why we inspected

This was a scheduled inspection based on the providers registration date.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.