Wessex Lodge Nursing Home

Updated 7 January 2021

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 Care Act 2014.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. We did this to understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The team for this inspection comprised an inspector and two assistant inspectors.

Service and service type

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

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

We gave a short period notice of the inspection visit (approximately one hour) to make sure we had up to date information of the location’s COVID-19 status and any relevant infection prevention protocols.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the last inspection report, the provider’s action plan, and other information received from the provider and others since the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with two people who used the service and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with four members of staff as well as the registered manager and clinical lead. The local authority sent us information they had about the service. We observed people’s care and support in the shared areas of the home.

We reviewed a range of records. These included care records for three people, records of checks and audits, and other records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We contacted more health and social care professionals for their input.

Updated 7 January 2021

About the service

Wessex Lodge Nursing Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to 36 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 40 people.

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

People told us they felt safe, and the provider had made improvements in areas we found needed improvement at the last inspection. The provider had completed actions to comply with their independent fire risk assessment. The service had maintained standards in other areas such as the management of medicines and protecting people from abuse. We were somewhat assured that the provider used PPE safely and effectively, and we were assured by the provider’s practice in other areas of infection prevention and control we looked at.

Staff told us they had seen improvements in how the service was managed. The provider had completed actions to make improvements identified at their last inspection. There was a new management team which was supported by a newly appointed director of clinical governance. A system of audits, checks and processes was in place to embed improvements already made and drive further improvements.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 2 April 2020). We found one breach of regulation. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 29 January 2020. We found a breach of legal requirements. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve in the area of good governance.

We undertook this focused inspection to check the provider 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 and well-led which contain those requirements.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to coronavirus and other infection outbreaks effectively.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. 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 Wessex Lodge Nursing Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.