Willow Park Care Home

The home is set out across 3 floors, each of which has adapted facilities. Each bedroom has an en-suite facility. One floor specialised in providing care to people living with dementia and another floor supported people with complex care needs. There were communal areas, dining rooms, a bar, hair salon and an area acting as a library.

People were protected from the risk of abuse by staff who were trained and knowledgeable about safeguarding. People's risks were appropriately assessed, and the provider sought advice from relevant professionals where appropriate.

Sufficient numbers of staff were available to meet people's needs. One person said, "There's plenty of staff here to cover any eventuality." The provider appropriately supported staff through induction, training and supervision. The manager was seeking additional training to the mandatory training provided to develop staff's knowledge around infection, prevention and control and Dementia. The provider followed safe recruitment practices.

People's medicines were not always managed in safe way. Governance oversight and record keeping concerns meant people were at risk of not having their medicines managed in a safe way. The provider addressed the record keeping concerns during the inspection process. We found no evidence of harm to people.

We have made a recommendation the provider embeds the current quality assurance processes in practice to ensure the safe management of medicines.

People's care plans were mostly reflective and person-centred. The provider was transitioning to electronic care planning and actively reviewing people's needs to identify shortfalls.

People were supported by staff who were caring and respected their dignity. Staff sought consent from people when offering care. People were encouraged to express their views and be involved in decisions about their 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.

People and relatives spoke positively about person-centred activities within the service. We saw evidence of feedback surveys conducted by the activities staff to ensure people were not at risk of social isolation.

People and staff spoke positively about the culture of the service and the manager. The management team were new to the service and were working proactively and promptly to drive service improvement, including embedding quality assurance processes and improve record keeping.

We have made a recommendation the provider continues to embed governance oversight around record keeping.

The provider used a variety of channels such as surveys, meetings, complaints and compliments to learn lessons and encourage improvement.

We found the service worked effectively with other health and social care professional and feedback from other professionals was positive.