Inspection on 16/12/09 for Willow Brook House

This inspection was carried out on 16th December 2009.

CQC found this care home to be providing an Poor service.

The inspector made no statutory requirements on the home as a result of this inspection and there were no outstanding actions from the previous inspection report.

Other inspections for this house

Willow Brook House 02/09/09

Willow Brook House 12/09/08

Willow Brook House 27/06/07

Willow Brook House 19/01/07

Willow Brook House 04/10/06

Willow Brook House 01/02/06

Extracts from inspection reports are licensed from CQC, this page was updated on 04/09/2010.

Random inspection report Care homes for older people Name: Address: Willow Brook House 77 South Road Corby Northants NN17 2XD zero star poor service The quality rating for this care home is: The rating was made on: A quality rating is our assessment of how well a care home, agency or scheme is meeting the needs of the people who use it. We give a quality rating following a full review of the service. We call this review a ‘key’ inspection. This is a report of a random inspection of this care home. A random inspection is a short, focussed review of the service. Details of how to get other inspection reports for this care home, including the last key inspection report, can be found on the last page of this report. Lead inspector: Kathy Jones Date: 1 6 1 2 2 0 0 9 Information about the care home Name of care home: Address: Willow Brook House 77 South Road Corby Northants NN17 2XD 01536260940 01536260941 willowbrookhouse@ashbourne.co.uk www.southerncrosshealthcare.co.uk Telephone number: Fax number: Email address: Provider web address: Name of registered provider(s): Name of registered manager (if applicable) Manager Post Vacant Type of registration: Number of places registered: Conditions of registration: Category(ies) : Ashbourne (Eton) Limited care home 48 Number of places (if applicable): Under 65 Over 65 23 25 25 dementia old age, not falling within any other category physical disability Conditions of registration: 0 0 0 No person falling within the DE(E) category can be admitted where there are 23 people of the DE(E) category already in the home. No person falling within the OP category can be admitted where there are 25 people of the OP category already in the home. No person falling within the PD(E) category can be admitted where there are 25 people of the PD(E) category already in the home. The total number of Service Users in the home must not exceed 48. Date of last inspection Care Homes for Older People Page 2 of 9 Brief description of the care home Willow Brook House is a care home providing personal care and accommodation to forty eight older people over the age of sixty five years. Up to twenty five people may have a physical disability and up to twenty three people may have dementia. The registered provider is Ashbourne Eton Ltd, which is owned by Southern Cross Healthcare. Willow Brook House is a purpose built facility located in the Old Village area of Corby Northampton, with local community shops nearby. There are two floors; residents with dementia are located on the lower floor and residents with a physical disability on the upper floor. All bedrooms are for single occupancy and have en-suite facilities. There are 23 bedrooms on the lower floor and 25 bedrooms on the top floor. Communal dining rooms, lounges and bathrooms are located on both floors. The following fees were detailed in the scale of fees provided as being current at the time of inspection Private General Residential Customer GBP627.00 Private Dementia Customer GBP627.00 LAHA funded General Residential Customer GBP355.21 LAHA funded Dementia Customer GBP381.63 Local AuthorityHealth Care funded customers are accepted on the expected to pay rates above. In addition a request is made for a GBP20 third party top up, which is set at the discretion of the manager. The fees include personal care, accommodation, meals and laundry. Chiropody and hairdressing services can be arranged and are charged separately. Other costs would include personal expenditure such as newspapers, clothing and toiletries. Information about the service including the most recent inspection report is available in the foyer. Care Homes for Older People Page 3 of 9 What we found: This inspection visit was unannounced and carried out by one inspector. The purpose of the inspection was to check compliance with a statutory requirement notice, which was served following the key inspection in September 2009. The statutory requirement notice was served as a result of breaches of the Care Homes Regulations 2001. The breaches related to the assessment of needs of people using the service, care plans, health and welfare and staff training. A timescale for compliance with the notice, of 25th November 2009 was given. In order to check compliance with the requirements in the notice we checked a sample of peoples care files, spoke with staff and looked at training records. We found that that while improvements are still required and arrangements need to be made to ensure that the improvements are sustained, compliance with the notice had been achieved. At the time of this inspection no new admissions to the service were being made. Northamptonshire County Council were not making any placements as a result of their concerns, and their policy not to admit to services with a zero star rating. Southern Cross Healthcare had agreed that they would not take any new admissions until improvements had been made. Managers from Southern Cross acknowledged the concerns raised by the Care Quality Commission following the inspection in September 2009 and Northamptonshire County Council through safeguarding vulnerable adults meetings. Since that time project managers, an operations manager from another area and a new acting manager have been involved with reviewing the care and care practices in the home. They identified a need for the needs of all the people using the service to be re-assessed to help ensure that any improvements they were making to the care plans were reflective of peoples needs. At the time of this inspection the re-assessments of peoples needs had been carried out and new care plans had been developed. New care files had been put in place for each person and staff confirmed that they were checking both files to ensure that all relevant information had been transferred to the new file before archiving the old file. As this was the case, consideration was given to information contained in both care files when checking compliance. We looked at two of the re-assessments that had been carried out as part of checking compliance with the requirement that had been made about the assessment of people using the service. One of these contained a very detailed assessment of needs. The Southern Cross assessment documentation had been fully completed and there was a detailed summary of the persons needs. This information would provide a very good basis for the persons plan of care. In contrast the other re-assessment of needs that we looked at was poorly completed, with no date, name of the person completing the assessment and with several areas of the assessment including previous medical history left blank. We did find the missing information on the old file which was still available and in use, but this was a poor Care Homes for Older People Page 4 of 9 example of a re-assessment of needs which would not have provided an adequate basis for care plans to guide the persons care. If considered in isolation compliance would not have been achieved. Looking at the review and re-assessment of needs and talking to staff and a relative, the care plans on one the new files was reflective of the persons needs and preferences. There was sufficient information within these plans to guide staff in meeting the persons needs. In contrast the care plans on the second care file were poorly completed and did not contain important information such as details of pressure relieving equipment. This information was on the care plan on the old care file. As both care files were together, and information was available between the files and staff were able to confirm that they were using both of the files until they had been checked and were aware of the persons needs, we took a proportionate view in relation to checking compliance. The Acting Manager informed us that most of the care files have now been checked for accuracy and the old ones will be archived. This needs to be done as a matter of urgency to avoid any confusion, particularly for any new or agency staff. There had been an improvement in staff training since our inspection in September 2009. Southern Cross have good systems in place to identify staff who have not attended or require training updates in subjects which they have identified as necessary for their role. In September 2009 these records showed that some staff had not had training or were overdue for training updates. The records and discussion with staff confirms that there is now a more proactive approach to staff training. Staff confirmed that training is being arranged and staff are attending as there is now an expectation that they will. Movement and handling was an area that we had been particularly concerned about at the last inspection, as we found that a member of staff was assisting people using the service without having had training. Records show that all staff have now had this training. More training has been arranged and we are satisfied that compliance has been achieved in this area. The focus of this inspection was to check compliance with the statutory requirement notice, however we did note that there was an improvement in staff morale. Staff spoken with told us that the home was better organised, there was less staff absence and now sufficient staff on duty, which meant that staff are happier and people are getting the care they should have. A relative we spoke with confirmed that improvements have been made. One example given was receiving medication on time. Verbal feedback was provided to the Acting Manager on the day of the inspection and we advised that we would check compliance with any other requirements at the next inspection. We will also look at how the improvements that have been made are being sustained. What the care home does well: What they could do better: Care Homes for Older People Page 5 of 9 This inspection has identified that while improvements have been made, there is a need to establish why there are such inconsistencies in the quality of assessments and care planning. This will help to ensure that they are all able to support peoples care and help in sustaining improvements. If you want to know what action the person responsible for this care home is taking following this report, you can contact them using the details set out on page 2. Care Homes for Older People Page 6 of 9 Are there any outstanding requirements from the last inspection? Yes £ No R Outstanding statutory requirements These are requirements that were set at the previous inspection, but have still not been met. They say what the registered person had to do to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Regulations 2001 and the National Minimum Standards. No. Standard Regulation Requirement Timescale for action Care Homes for Older People Page 7 of 9 Requirements and recommendations from this inspection: Immediate requirements: These are immediate requirements that were set on the day we visited this care home. The registered person had to meet these within 48 hours. No. Standard Regulation Requirement Timescale for action Statutory requirements These requirements set out what the registered person must do to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Regulations 2001 and the National Minimum Standards. The registered person(s) must do this within the timescales we have set. No. Standard Regulation Requirement Timescale for action Recommendations These recommendations are taken from the best practice described in the National Minimum Standards and the registered person(s) should consider them as a way of improving their service. No Refer to Standard Good Practice Recommendations Care Homes for Older People Page 8 of 9 Reader Information Document Purpose: Author: Audience: Further copies from: Inspection Report Care Quality Commission General Public 0870 240 7535 (telephone order line) Our duty to regulate social care services is set out in the Care Standards Act 2000. Copies of the National Minimum Standards –Care Homes for Older People can be found at www.dh.gov.uk or got from The Stationery Office (TSO) PO Box 29, St Crispins, Duke Street, Norwich, NR3 1GN. Tel: 0870 600 5522. Online ordering from the Stationery Office is also available: www.tso.co.uk/bookshop Helpline: Telephone: 03000 616161 Email: enquiries@cqc.org.uk Web: www.cqc.org.uk We want people to be able to access this information. 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