Improved care home still below standard

WESTBURY Court Care Home has made significant improvements since last year’s inspection, but is still failing to meet national standards, according to a recent Care Quality Commission report.

The home, which came under fire from ex-staff following an ‘Inadequate’ inspection report last year, received an improved ‘Requires Improvement’ judgement in March.

The new report said, “At the last inspection of 10th July 2014, we asked the provider to make improvements to ensure that people were safeguarded against the risk of all types of abuse. This action had been completed.

“People said they felt safe. Staff were trained in safeguarding and understood their responsibilities and role in protecting people in their care. Any individual risks were identified and plans to manage those risks were developed. General risks were identified and assessed and the home took health and safety seriously.”

Improvements had been made in the administration of medicines, staffing, management, and the general quality of care had improved; all of which were commended in the report. The service received ‘Good’ in the category named ‘Caring’.

Despite improvements and the removal of its inadequacies, Westbury Court still received  the second worst rating ‘Requires Improvement’ in four out of five categories.

The report published in March said, “People’s medicines were not always given to them at the right times and in the right quantities to keep them as healthy as possible.

“Some staff understood consent, mental capacity and deprivation of liberty issues and some did not. Staff had not been fully trained in this area.

“It was not always clear if people were listened to and care was delivered in the way that people chose and preferred.”

The home, on Station Road, is equipped to provide care for up to 60 adults, some of whom suffer from varying degrees of dementia. It is owned and run by Four Seasons healthcare.

A spokesperson for Four Seasons said, “The wellbeing of people entrusted to our care is our priority. We are pleased that the most recent Care Quality Commission inspection, which took place almost six months ago in December, rated Westbury Court as ‘good’ for providing a caring service and recognised that staff treated people with dignity and respect.

“We are sorry that, at that time, some aspects of the care delivered did not meet the standards that we expect all of our care homes to provide. However, we are encouraged that the  inspectors acknowledged that significant improvements had been made since their previous inspection in July 2014.

“In the months since the most recent inspection we have implemented and completed a comprehensive improvement plan that was agreed with the Care Quality Commission. We have been liaising closely with Wiltshire Council, which recently completed a report confirming the improvements the home has made.

“The improvement plan, that has been overseen by our senior regional managers, consisted of providing additional training for staff to ensure our processes and procedures to support quality of care are strictly followed.

“We have also recruited additional nursing staff and we’re using a recognised “safe staffing guide” to ensure there are always the right number of staff on duty for the needs of our residents. We are committed to providing person-centred care that meets the individual needs and preferences of all our residents and we continue to reassess residents’ care plans with them to ensure this is being provided at all times.”

The entire report can be read at www.cqc.org.uk.