About the serviceWansbeck Care Home is registered to provide accommodation and personal care to a maximum of 40 older people, including people who live with dementia. At the time of the inspection there were 33 people living at the home.
People's experience of using this service and what we found
Systems and processes for identifying patterns and trends were in place. These had not always been used well enough, meaning patterns and trends had not always been identified. We have made a recommendation about this.
Care planning and risk assessments were in place but had not always been reviewed meaningfully. Some daily records were not person-centred or easily accessible. We have made a recommendation about this.
The registered manager needed to review their understanding and application of the duty of candour. We have made a recommendation about this.
The provider had plans in place to improve the review and storage of records.
The provider had identified areas for improvement, prior to our inspection visit, and had begun to implement changes and improvements.
People felt well supported and safe. Staff helped people promptly when they needed. Relatives had confidence in the ability of staff to keep their loved ones safe.
The environment was clean. The provider had made improvements to the safety of the environment in response to visits from external agencies. They had plans in place to complete more refurbishment.
Medicines administration was safe. Staff were trained, supervised and had their competence regularly assessed. Records were clear and stock checks and audits ensured the risks of errors were reduced. The provider had acted on the advice and support of external specialists.
There were sufficient staff to keep people safe. The provider had recruited more staff recently and reduced reliance on agency staff.
People were kept safe. The provider had relevant policies and procedures in place to reduce the risk of abuse. Staff reacted promptly to individual incidents and concerns.
Staff were recruited safely and felt they could raise concerns if they needed to.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and to live in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
Staff knew people well and wanted them to receive good quality care.
The provider had made a range of recent improvements to the safety of the building, including new locks and redecoration work. They had further refurbishment planned.
The provider worked well with external professionals.
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 25 May 2021).
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.
For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Wansbeck Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this report.
You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
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.
Enforcement and Recommendations
We have made recommendations that the provider: reviews and improves the person-centred nature of care plans, risks assessments and their reviews; reviews the effectiveness of its quality assurance measures in place, and; reviews their understanding of the duty of candour.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our reinspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.