Wykebeck Court Care Home

Updated 24 October 2019

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors, a specialist advisor with a nursing background and an Expert by Experience. 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

Wykebeck Court is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

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. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with fifteen people who used the service and three relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with eleven members of staff including the registered manager, senior care workers, care workers and the chef. 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 could not talk with us.

We reviewed a range of records. This included six people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at six staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 24 October 2019

About the service

Wykebeck Court is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to 41 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 84 people.

The care home accommodates people across two separate floors, with the third floor currently used for events. One of the floors specialised in providing care to people living with dementia.

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

People and their relatives said the service was safe. Staff had been trained in safeguarding vulnerable adults and safeguarding referrals were made appropriately.

People received their medicines as prescribed. Systems and processes around medicines were safe. Risks to people were assessed and monitored appropriately.

There were enough staff deployed to meet people’s needs. Staff received appropriate levels of training and ongoing support from senior staff.

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’s nutritional intake and general health and wellbeing were monitored by staff with referrals to health and social care professionals made in a timely way. People’s nutritional preferences were recorded and reflected by staff.

Staff took into account peoples diverse cultural and religious needs when delivering care. Staff provided people with choice and control in their care, and people said their independence and dignity was respected by staff.

Activities staff were engaged, and staff ensured people were not socially isolated, taking into account their hobbies and interests. Care plans reflected people’s life histories and preferred routines.

Care plans were not always up to date with regards to people’s needs and documents were not always signed by people or their representatives as required. There were plans in place to address this.

We have made a recommendation about care plans.

The registered manager promoted an open culture and staff said they felt supported by senior leadership. The registered manager used the provider’s quality assurance processes to ensure the quality of the service was monitored and improvements identified and followed up with clear actions.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published January 2019) with four breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

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