Westgarth

Westgarth provides accommodation and personal care for up to 12 autistic people and people with a learning disability. Westgarth provides respite and short stay only. A condition is placed on their registration which limits any emergency short stay placement to no longer than 9 months. At the time of the assessment, 5 people were staying at the service.

We assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed autistic people and people with a learning disability respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted.

The service demonstrated a caring, person-centred culture where people were supported safely and with dignity, respect and compassion. People, relatives and professionals provided positive feedback about the quality of care, staff relationships and the support provided during respite and short-stay placements. Effective systems were in place across most areas, including safeguarding, risk management, medicines, infection prevention and control, staffing arrangements, partnership working and personalised care planning. A recently appointed manager had introduced a number of positive improvements and staff described leadership as approachable, supportive and responsive.

There was a strong focus on promoting people's independence, choice, wellbeing and access to community activities, with evidence of positive outcomes for people. Admission and transition processes were well developed, helping to ensure continuity of care and safe placements. The provider worked collaboratively with health and social care professionals and demonstrated a commitment to learning and continuous improvement.

Some areas required further strengthening to ensure governance arrangements were fully effective. Although quality assurance systems identified areas for improvement, actions had not always been completed promptly. Opportunities for people and relatives to provide feedback were not consistently embedded, and some environmental and record-keeping issues were identified, including the absence of a call bell system, gaps in emergency information, inconsistencies in care documentation, and delays in addressing training and medicines-related actions. The provider and manager had recognised these areas and had already begun implementing improvements. Overall, people received safe, effective, caring and person-centred support, with a clear commitment to ongoing development and service improvement.