Wythall Residential Home

People and relatives gave positive feedback about the staff and support. People said they felt safe living in the home.

“People told us they felt safe living at Wythall Residential Home.” from the report

Inspectors saw enough staff to provide safe care during their visits, and staff responded to people's needs promptly. Recruitment checks were also in place.

“During our inspection visits we saw there were enough staff to provide safe care and treatment.” from the report

The home was working within the Mental Capacity Act principles. People were supported to make decisions and care was provided in the least restrictive way possible.

“People were supported to make decisions when they were able to.” from the report

The provider had introduced an audit schedule with named responsibilities and was bringing in an electronic system to support records, audits and communication.

“The provider had introduced a schedule of audits to monitor the performance of the home which was accompanied by an action plan giving named staff responsibility for specific tasks.” from the report

Two potential safeguarding concerns had not been referred to the appropriate external agencies or CQC when required. This meant inspectors could not be assured that people were fully protected.

“During the inspection we reviewed 2 potential incidents of safeguarding concern. However, the concerns were not escalated externally to appropriate agencies for further investigation, or to CQC as required.” from the report

One person did not receive a prescribed medicine for seven weeks without a recorded reason. Inspectors also found unlocked medicines and thickener, inaccurate stock records and incomplete records for medicines given as required.

“One person had not received 1 of their medicines as prescribed for 7 weeks. There was no documented evidence why this medicine had stopped.” from the report

Audits did not always identify the problems inspectors found or explain why repeated medicine errors had happened. Accidents and incidents were not consistently analysed for patterns.

“Systems and processes were not fully embedded to identify and monitor the quality of the service and drive improvements.” from the report

Inspectors found out-of-date food and food that was not clearly labelled or stored in airtight containers. The home's own checks had not found these issues.

“We observed food items that had exceeded their use by date and food items which had not been clearly labelled or stored in airtight containers.” from the report

The home did not yet have a registered manager, although a manager had applied to register and was expected to move permanently to the home.

“The service remained without a registered manager; however, management support was being provided internally by experienced managers.” from the report