Woodcote

Updated 16 July 2019

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the registered persons were meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

We visited the service on 14 June 2019.

Inspection team:

The inspection was completed by one inspector.

Service and service type:

Woodcote is a care home that provides accommodation and personal care for six younger adults and older people who need support due to having learning adaptive needs/autism. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the service is run.

Notice of inspection:

This inspection was announced. This was because the people who lived in the service had complex needs for support and benefited from knowing in advance that we would be calling to their home.

What we did:

We used information the registered persons sent us in their Provider Information Return. This is information we require registered persons to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We reviewed other information we held about the service. This included notifications of incidents that the registered persons had sent us since our last inspection in April 2018. These are events that happened in the service that the registered persons are required to tell us about.

We invited feedback from the commissioning bodies who contributed to purchasing some of the care provided by the service. We did this so that they could tell us their views about how well the service was meeting people's needs and wishes. This information helps support our inspections.

We spoke with all the people living in the service using sign-assisted language when necessary.

We spoke with two support staff, the deputy manager and the registered manager. We also spoke with two service managers to whom the registered manager reported and to the managing director of the company who ran the service.

We reviewed documents and records that described how support had been provided. This included the support plans that described the assistance provided for three people living in the service.

We examined documents and records relating to how the service was run including health and safety, the management of medicines and staff training and recruitment. We also looked at documents relating to learning lessons when things had gone wrong, obtaining consent and the management of complaints.

We reviewed the systems and processes used by the registered persons to assess, monitor and evaluate the service.

We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who cannot talk with us.

Updated 16 July 2019

About the service:

Woodcote is a residential care service for six younger adults and older people who need support due to having learning adaptive needs/autism.

At the time of this inspection there were six people living in the service. All the people had complex needs for support. Two people used individual forms of sign-assisted language to express themselves.

The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who live in the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning adaptive needs/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence.

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

People's experience of using the service:

People and their relatives were positive about the service. A person said, “I like it here.” Another person said, “Good, good” when we asked them about their home. A relative said, "I’m happy knowing my family member lives in Woodcote because I know that they have what they need and will have it after I’m gone.”

People were safeguarded from the risk of abuse.

People received safe care, treatment and support in line with national guidance from support staff who had the knowledge and skills they needed.

There were enough support staff on duty and safe recruitment practices were in place.

People were supported to use medicines safely.

Lessons had been learnt when things had gone wrong.

People had been helped to receive medical attention when necessary.

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.

Most of the accommodation was well maintained and there were plans to address one shortfall.

Support staff were courteous and polite.

People’s privacy was respected and confidential information was handled in the right way.

People received person-centred care and they were supported to pursue their hobbies and interests.

There were robust arrangements to manage complaints.

There were arrangements to treat people with compassion at the end of their lives to enable them to have a pain-free death.

People had been consulted about the development of the service.

Good team work was promoted and regulatory requirements had been met.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating. At the previous inspection on 16/17 April 2018 there was a breach of regulations. This was because the registered persons had not established sufficiently robust arrangements to monitor and evaluate the operation of the service. At this inspection in June 2019 suitable provision had been made to ensure the smooth running of the service and the breach of regulations had been resolved.

Follow up:

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