• Care Home
  • Care home

Shore Lodge - Care Home Learning Disabilities

Overall: Requires improvement read more about inspection ratings

Bow Arrow Lane, Dartford, Kent, DA2 6PB (01322) 220965

Provided and run by:
Leonard Cheshire Disability

Important:

We issued Warning Notices to Leonard Cheshire Disability on 3 April 2024 for failing to meet the regulations relating to safe care and treatment, need for consent and good governance, management and oversight at Shore Lodge – Care Home Learning Disabilities.

Report from 8 February 2024 assessment

Ratings

  • Overall

    Requires improvement

  • Safe

    Inadequate

  • Effective

    Requires improvement

  • Caring

    Requires improvement

  • Responsive

    Requires improvement

  • Well-led

    Requires improvement

Our view of the service

Shore Lodge is a residential care home providing support for adults with a learning disability. We completed this assessment due to the concerns raised by healthcare professionals about the management of risk, the standard of care people received and the oversight of the service. We completed the assessment 7 March 2024 to 29 March 2024. We visited the service on 2 occasions during the assessment. We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to this. We found the provider was not following the guidance and people were not receiving the required standard of care. We identified significant shortfalls across all areas of the service and identified 7 breaches of regulation including the management of risk, supporting people’s choice and gaining consent and the management of the service. In instances where CQC have decided to take civil or criminal enforcement action against a provider, we will publish this information on our website after any representations and/ or appeals have been concluded. We have also asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.

People's experience of this service

We observed people’s experience of care and support during our on site visits. People did not always receive support following their choices and preferences. People were often left by themselves with no stimulation when it was known they enjoyed company and spending time with people. People did not always have a positive experience when being supported by staff. We observed some staff not understanding how people communicated and not giving people choice. We observed other staff supporting people in a positive way and people reacted to them with smiles and laughter. People did not receive support following healthcare professionals’ guidance including how their meals should be prepared. Staff were not always using the equipment recommended to keep them safe. People’s environment was not personalised to their own preferences. People’s rooms had not been furnished or decorated following people’s likes or dislikes. People were not supported to access the community regularly or when they wanted to. People were not consistently supported to take part in activities they enjoyed. People’s relatives also expressed some concerns about people’s care and support. Some relatives felt the service had deteriorated and the level of care was not as consistently good as it had been.