'Inadequate' Newport care home needs improvement, says watchdog

Six care homes and services in the county have been assessed by watchdog body the Care Quality Commission, with one achieving outstanding, but another requiring improvement.

Hendra House Residential Home in Ludlow won the top rating in the Care Quality Commission's latest round of inspections, but Woodcote Hall, near Newport, was deemed to need more time to demonstrate it was getting better, having been rated inadequate in 2014.

The other four, including Yockleton Grange Residential Home near Shrewsbury, Audley Court in Newport, Home Instead Senior Care service in Madeley and The Care Bureau Ltd Domiciliary Care service in Wellington, were all rated as good.

The CQC has four possible ratings: outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate. The watchdog only takes immediate action with inadequate services - those requiring improvement are described as "not performing as well as they should" and given advice on how they must improve.

In the case of Woodcote Hall the report said there had been significant improvements since the last inspection in December, with staffing levels, health care and meal choices all addressed.

In 2014, the report said, there were breaches of the home's legal requirements with standards of care not being met in line with people's individual needs.

It said: "The provider was not managing people's skin conditions effectively and did not have sufficient numbers of staff on duty. We also found that the provider had not ensured that there were effective systems to assess and monitor the quality of service provided to people."

As a result Woodcote Hall stopped providing nursing care and focussed on residential care only, it said.

While there had been a range of measures taken to ensure the home was safe, effective, caring and well-led, inspectors were unable to raise the rating to good yet, as more time was needed to demonstrate consistent good practice, the report said. However, it did criticise the home for not always being responsive, with residents sometimes kept waiting for their care.

Michelle Burton, Woodcote Hall's new manager, said she had only been at the home two weeks when the inspectors arrived, but said there was a "very positive" feeling at the home.

"We've got a really good team of senior staff and care staff at the home now, and good support from area manager Brett Bernard," she said.

"It's a lovely home with a lot of potential, and we're starting to get more residents and more enquiries now."

She said the home had just purchased four lamas for the grounds and were planning a "huge" garden project involving the residents.

At Hendra House the "strong management ethos" was praised by inspectors, with residents telling them they felt "lucky to live there".

Sue Howard, deputy chief inspector of adult social care in the central region, said: "We found that people living at this home and their relatives were overwhelmingly positive about the quality of their care.

"The provider had a clear strategic vision set out in the business plan. There was an open and empowering culture in the home.

"Inspectors found many examples of the home's management implementing innovative approaches to ensure care was delivered to a high standard.

"People, friends and relatives were consistently positive in what they told us about the very caring and compassionate attitude of the staff. They told us they were completely satisfied with their care," she said.

The other four homes and services were rated as good in all categories, being deemed safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.