Woodham House Stanstead

Updated 2 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.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

Woodham House Stanstead is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Woodham House Stanstead is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

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 a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the registered manager 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. 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 this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

Inspection activity started on 14 April 2023 and ended on 19 April 2023. We spoke with 3 people receiving care and support. We spoke with the registered manager, the deputy manager and two support workers. We reviewed care and medicine records of three people and we looked at 5 staff files in relation to recruitment, induction, supervision, and training. We also looked at a sample of policies and procedures and records related to the management of the service.

Updated 2 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

Woodham House Stanstead is a care home that provides care and support for up to six people with mental health needs, people with learning disabilities and autistic people. At the time of the inspection there were 6 people using the service.

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

Right Support: Risks to people’s health and wellbeing were managed well and people were included in the risk management processes. The provider supported people to take their medicines safely. There were adequate infection control processes in place. Staffing levels were sufficient to maintain people’s safety and ensure their health and social needs were met.

Right Care: Staff understood people’s cultural needs and supported people in line with their needs and preferences. Staff had support and ongoing training to ensure they had the skills to meet the needs of people. However, we have made a recommendation about providing positive behaviour support training. People told us they were supported to achieve goals and their cultural needs were upheld.

Right Culture: The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives. The provider worked in partnership with other health and social care professionals to review people’s care and support plans. There were processes in place to gather feedback from people, their relatives and professionals. We received positive comments about how the registered manager led the team to provide person-centred care.

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. We have made a recommendation about recording best interests’ decisions.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 4 April 2020).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part by notification of an incident following which a person using the service sustained a serious injury. This incident is subject to further investigation by CQC as to whether any regulatory action should be taken. As a result, this inspection did not examine the circumstances of the incident. However, the information shared with CQC about the incident indicated potential concerns about the management of risk of violence and aggressive behaviours. This focused inspection was carried out to seek assurance that people were being protected from harm.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

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 remained good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

Recommendations

We have made recommendations about providing positive behaviour support training and improving the process of recording best interests decisions.

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.