Westley Court Care Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Westley Court Care Home is a residential nursing home for 33 people, some of who live with dementia. At our last inspection we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good. There was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not gone down since our last inspection.

A registered manager was in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People received care which was highly responsive to their individual needs. People were at the heart of the service. The provider's philosophy, vision and values were understood and shared across the staff team. People were supported to maintain their purpose and pleasure in life by staff who worked creatively to support their individual needs. The provider and staff team were passionate about providing high quality care tailored to people's individual needs and preferences. Staff invested time to understand the experiences of people who lived at the home. People told us they had formed excellent relationships with the provider, staff team and other people who lived at the home, built on trust and respect. Staff took time to understand people's life stories, so people received support in the ways and at the times they preferred. People, relatives and health professionals told us the care provided was responsive to people’s needs and because of this people experienced extremely positive outcomes. People and relatives told us staff were empathetic and gave compassionate care. Relatives and health professionals praised end of life care provision at the home.

People, relatives and staff agreed the service was extremely well managed and Westley Court was an exceptionally caring home. Everyone consistently praised the skills of the management team and emphasised they were motivated to provide an exceptional service. The provider ensured care was based upon good practice guidance. Exceptionally good governance was embedded into the provider and registered manager’s processes. This ensured people received people received a highly effective service which put them at the heart of their care.

Links within the local community were an important priority. Excellent links had forged with the local hospice which provided training and support to both staff and people who lived at the home. The home had a vibrant and welcoming atmosphere where visitors were welcomed and encouraged. There were processes to monitor the quality and safety of the service provided and actions were taken to drive continuous improvement for the benefit of the people who lived there.

Staff understood their responsibility to safeguard people from harm and had a good understanding reporting concerns both within and outside the home. Where risks associated with people's health and wellbeing had been identified, there were plans to manage those risks. Risk assessments ensured people could continue to enjoy activities as safely as possible and maintain their independence. Staff had a good knowledge of how to support people at these times.

The provider and staff team were committed to ensure people were involved in decisions about their care and how they led their lives. Should people lack capacity to make their own decisions, staff understood the p

This inspection took place on 11 and 12 May and was unannounced. Westley Court Care Home provides accommodation and nursing care for up to 33 older people. There were 30 people who were living at the home on the day of our visit.

There was a registered manager in place at the time of our inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People lived in a safe environment as staff knew how to protect people from harm. We found that staff recognised signs of abuse and knew how to report this. Staff made sure risk assessments were in place and took actions to minimise risks without taking away people’s right to make decisions.

There were sufficient staff on duty to meet people’s needs. People told us that staff helped them when they needed assistance. Regular reviews of people’s care and deployment of staff meant staffing levels were reviewed and reflected the needs of people who lived there. People’s medicines were administered and managed in a safe way.

The registered manager supported their staff by arranging training and up-skilling staff in order to provide care and support to people that was in-line with best practice. People and relatives told us of the positive benefits this had on the care and support received. Staff were equipped with the skills and knowledge to provide effective care and support for those who could not always verbalise their needs.

People received care and support that was in-line with their needs and preferences. Staff provided people’s care with their consent and agreement. Staff understood and recognised the importance of this. We found people were supported to eat a healthy balanced diet and with enough fluids to keep them healthy. We found that people had access to healthcare professionals, such as the dentist and their doctor when they required them and where supported to hospital appointments.

We saw that people were involved in the planning around their care. People’s views and decisions they had made about their care were listened and acted upon. People told us that staff treated them kindly, with dignity and their privacy was respected. Staff supported people with decisions around their end of life care and provided people with support from local hospices to further enhance their end of life care.

We found that people knew how to complain and felt comfortable to do this should they feel they needed to. We looked at the providers complaints over the last 12 months and found that no complaints had been received.

The registered manager demonstrated clear leadership. Staff were supported to carry out their roles and responsibilities effectively, which meant that people’s received care and support in-line with their needs and wishes.

We found that the checks the provider completed focused upon the experiences people received. Where areas for improvement were identified, systems were in place to ensure that lessons were learnt and used to improve staff practice.

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 25 February 2015. A breach of legal requirements was found. After the comprehensive inspection, the provider wrote to us to say what they would do to meet legal requirements in relation to staffing, regulation 18 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated activities) Regulations 2014.

We undertook this focused inspection on 21 September 2015 to check that they had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Westley Court on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Westley Court provides nursing and personal care to a maximum of 33 people. There were 27 people who lived at Westley Court at the time of our inspection.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

At our focused inspection on the 21 September 2015, we found that the provider had followed their plan which they had told us would be completed by the 31 July 2015 and legal requirements had been met.

People who we spoke with told us that the care they received reflected their needs and wishes. Staff felt that they had more time to spend with people to provide the care that people wanted.

The registered manager regularly reviewed people’s dependency levels and used this to help ensure staffing levels reflected people’s needs. Staffing levels were adapted to people’s needs and more staff were scheduled to work for the busier times in the home, such as mornings and evening times. Staff told us that this worked well and felt able to attend to people’s needs without having to rush.

We inspected Westley Court on 25 February 2015. Westley Court provides nursing and personal care to a maximum of 33 people. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

We found that the provider did not always have sufficient numbers staff on duty at busier times to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. We found that there were some areas for improvement around infection control, such as managing laundry more effectively and ensuring people’s personal toiletries were appropriately stored.

We found that while the nursing staff had the skills and knowledge to meet people’s needs, care staff's training was not effective in order for them to deliver appropriate care to people.

Improvements were needed to give people, relatives and staff opportunities to provide their opinion about the way the service was run.

We found that people were kept safe by staff who knew how to protect people from harm. People were cared for in a supportive way that did not restrict their freedom. People’s medication was stored and managed in a way that kept people safe. People’s medication was given at the correct times by staff who were trained to do so.

People had access to healthcare professionals and were supported to appointments, such as the doctors, physiotherapists and occupational therapists.

People we spoke with were complimentary about the food and their dining experience.  Staff knew people’s likes and dislikes and respected their wishes. We observed people received regular drinks and staff supported those who needed assistance. 

People told us that all the staff were caring and respectful. Some people who lived at Westley Court were unable to tell us verbally if the staff were kind and caring however we observed that people were relaxed and calm in the home. People told us that they were listened to and were able to make day to day decisions about their care. Staff told us about a key worker system that was being put into place. This was to help involve people and relatives in the planning of their on-going care. We saw staff spoke kindly to people and maintained their dignity when providing assistance. People were supported to remain independent and received assistance when they needed it.

We found that the service was responsive towards people’s care and social needs. Staff showed us how they used people’s history and past experiences to develop activities that people enjoyed and that were personalised to their choice.  Staff knew people’s likes and dislikes and respected their wishes.

People and relatives told us they found staff and the registered manager approachable and told us they could raise any complaints or concerns should they need to. The provider had not received any complaints over a 12 month period.

We found the registered manager had systems in place to ensure that the quality of the care was monitored. Checks in areas such as medication and care planning were carried out and completed monthly. Where there were any actions following these checks they were followed up and improvements were made.

You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.

We spoke with two people who lived at the home. We looked at some people’s care plans which provided information on the needs of each person. We looked at how staff cared for the people who used the service. We also spoke with four staff.

People living at Westley Court Care Home were being treated with dignity and respect.

We observed that people appeared relaxed and comfortable. They were being cared for in a way that they preferred. One person who lived there told us: “I think it is lovely here”.

We found that the provider had held best interests meetings. This was to support decisions about care where people had been unable to consent, or where decisions needed to be made on their behalf.

We saw that the provider was monitoring the quality of the service that was being delivered.