Bradstowe Lodge

Updated 24 March 2023

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was completed by an inspector.

Service and service type

Bradstowe Lodge is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Bradstowe Lodge is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post. The provider had appointed a manager at the home in September 2022 and they intended to apply to become the registered with the Commission.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 6 people about their experiences of the service. We spoke with 10 staff including the nominated individual, manager, deputy manager, head of care, and 3 care staff. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We reviewed a range of records. This included 4 people’s care records, medication records and 2 staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including checks and audits were reviewed.

Updated 24 March 2023

About the service

Bradstowe Lodge is a residential care home providing accommodation for people requiring personal care to up to 27 people. The service provides support to older people in one large adapted building. At the time of our inspection there were 22 people using the service.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People told us staff working at Bradstowe Lodge were “all lovely”, “interested in me” and “everyone is kind and thoughtful”. People felt comfortable living at the home and a person told us, “This is my home now.” We found improvements had been made at the service, but further improvements were needed to comply with regulations and ensure people always received a good service.

Checks and audits had improved but action had not always been planned to address shortfalls found. People’s records were not always complete. Detailed guidance was not available to staff about how to mitigate risks to people and provide their care in the way they wanted.

People were involved in planning changes at the service and the provider acted on feedback received from people and staff. Staff offered people choices in all areas of their life and respected decisions they made. People told us they were supported to remain independent and had enough to do during the day.

Risks to people had been identified and staff had the skills and knowledge to keep people safe. Staff had been recruited safely, completed an induction and received further training around people’s needs. Medicines were managed safely and people received their medicines as prescribed. Lessons had been learnt when things went wrong and action had been taken to reduce the risk of them from happening again. People were confident to make complaints but had not felt they needed to.

People told us they felt safe at the service. Staff knew how to identify and report any safety concerns. Staff had assessed people’s needs before they began using the service. Any changes in people’s health were identified promptly and they were referred to health care professionals. People were supported to be comfortable at the end of their lives. People had enough to eat and told us the food was “extremely good”.

The service was clean, and staff followed safe infection control processes. The building had been adapted to people’s needs and people were encouraged to decorate their bedrooms as they wished.

A new manager was leading the service, they were experienced and staff told us they were approachable and supportive.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 6 October 2022). We took enforcement action against the provider and applied a condition to their registration requiring them tell us each month the action they had taken to improve the service. At this inspection we found some improvements had been made, but the provider remained in breach of regulations.

The service remains rated requires improvement. This service has been rated requires improvement for the last three consecutive inspections.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced focused inspection of this service on 19 May 2022. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve safe care and treatment and good governance.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Effective, Responsive and Well-led which contain those requirements. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has remained requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Bradstowe Lodge on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to accurate and complete records and acting on shortfalls found at this inspection. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. We will work with the local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.