Woodways: South Yorkshire care home for youngsters with learning disabilities ordered to improve by CQC

The Care Quality Comission (CQC) inspected Woodways on Park Street, Wombwell in October.

Woodways is made up of six self-contained apartments, and six people were living the at the time of the inspection.

Inspectors rated the home as ‘good’ in the categories of being safe, effective, caring and responsive, but ‘requires improvement’ in the ‘well-led’ category.

It was rated ‘requires improvement’ overall.

Inspectors found ‘positive and supportive relationships’ between staff and people living there, adding that ‘people told us they felt safe living at Woodways’.

The inspection was prompted following ‘concerns received about inappropriate use of restraint, medicines management, staffing levels and deployment of staff’.

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The report states that inspectors found ‘no evidence’ that people were ‘at risk of harms from these concerns’, but did state that ‘the provider needs to make improvements with regards to governance systems and processes’.

“We found people’s care records needed to be reviewed and better organised; infection prevention and control, care records and medicines audits needed to be implemented; and regular supervisions needed to be sustained,” states the report.

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However, the service was praised for the safe recruiting of staff, having enough employees to keep people safe, that communal areas were ‘clean and well maintained’, and the ‘apartments were individualised and homely’.

Summarising, inspectors said: “We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety.

“We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress.”

Bespoke Care and Support, which provides care at Woodways, has been approached for comment.

The full report can be read at: api.cqc.org.uk/public/v1/reports/45481a4d-324c-42a1-90ca-985acc1eb349?20211130130000