Archived: Oak Lodge Care Home

Updated 15 March 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection team consisted of two inspectors and an expert by experience. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type:

Oak Lodge 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 did not have 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. At the time of this inspection a new manager had been in post for approximately three months and had applied to the Commission for registration.

Notice of inspection:

This was an unannounced inspection

What we did:

Before the inspection we looked at notifications we had received about the service. A notification is the means by which providers tell us important information that affects the running of the service and the care people receive.

The provider had not been asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to our inspection. The PIR is information Providers are required to send us about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.

During the inspection we spoke with 14 people who lived at the home, four visitors and seven members of staff. We observed staff interactions with people in the communal areas.

We looked at a selection of records which included;

• Six care and support plans

• Records of staff training

• Records of staff and resident’s meetings

• Seven people’s medication administration records

• Records of health and safety checks

• Two staff recruitment files

Updated 15 March 2019

About the service:

Oak Lodge Care Home is a nursing home which is able to provide care and accommodation to up to 47 people. The home specialises in providing care to older people. At the time of the inspection there were 26 people living at the home.

People’s experience of using this service:

The provider had made improvements to ensure people lived in a home which met legal requirements. They had an action plan in place to further develop and improve the service. People, staff and visitors were positive about improvements made.

People benefited from a new management team who were committed to providing person centred care and continually seeking people’s views on the care they received. One visitor said, “Since [manager’s name] has been here there has been change. They are trying to make the home meet the residents needs rather than residents meet the home’s needs. It is a complete new state of affairs, putting residents first.”

People’s needs were assessed and care plans were in place. However, the care plans did not always give clear information about people’s wishes and preferred routines. This meant there was not always clear guidance for staff to make sure people received care and support in accordance with their wishes and preferences. The provider was working to address this.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People were cared for by adequate numbers of appropriately trained staff to ensure their safety. People felt safe at the home and with the staff who supported them. One person said, “I haven’t had any reason not to feel safe.” A visiting relative said, “Quite happy, I’ve never worried about safety, those girls [staff] are marvellous.”

People were cared for by staff who were kind and patient. Staff helped people to maintain and develop relationships and friendships and visitors were always made welcome.

People’s well-being was monitored by staff and trained nurses ensured people’s healthcare needs were met. Where people required specialist care, referrals were made to appropriate professionals outside the home.

There were some organised activities but a number of people felt this was an area which could be improved. The provider informed us they were in the process of re-structuring the activities team and they hoped this would lead to improvements for people.

Ratings at last inspections:

At the inspection published 17 November 2017 the home had an overall rating of inadequate and was placed into special measures.

The service was rated Requires Improvement with one inadequate domain at our last inspection. (Published 16 October 2018.)

Following the last inspection, we met with the provider to ask what they would do and by when to improve the key questions; safe, effective, responsive and well led to at least good. We also imposed three conditions on the locations’ registration to require them to provide regular updates on the progress being made to comply with the regulations and improve standards of care for people.

This service has been in Special Measures. Services that are in Special Measures are kept under review and inspected again within six months. We expect services to make significant improvements within this timeframe. During this inspection the service demonstrated to us that improvements have been made and is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any key question. Therefore, this service is now out of Special Measures.

Why we inspected:

This was a scheduled/planned inspection based on previous rating;

Follow up:

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

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