Crowborough Lodge Residential Care Home

Updated 13 September 2019

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, 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 one inspector, 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. The expert at this inspection had experience of caring for older people.

Service and service type:

Crowborough Lodge Residential Care Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as 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:

This was an unannounced inspection, which meant the provider and staff were not aware that we were coming.

What we did:

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 reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service.

During the inspection:

We observed the support that people received, spoke with people and staff and gathered information relating to the management of the service. We used the short observational framework for inspection (SOFI), which is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We reviewed a range of records. This included four staff recruitment files, training records, records relating to the management of the service and a variety of policies and procedures and quality assurance processes developed and implemented by the provider. We reviewed four people’s care records.

We spoke with 11 people living at the service. We also spoke with seven members of staff, including the registered manager, the deputy manager, the provider, an activities co-ordinator, the chef and care staff.

Updated 13 September 2019

About the service:

Crowborough Lodge Residential Care Home is a care home registered to provide residential care and accommodation for 31 people with various health conditions, including diabetes and frailty. There were 28 people living at the service on the day of our inspection. Crowborough Lodge Residential Care Home is a large converted property located in Saltdean, East Sussex.

People’s experience of using this service:

People were happy with the care they received, felt relaxed with staff and told us they were treated with kindness. They said they felt safe, were well supported and there were sufficient staff to care for them.

Our own observations supported this, and we saw friendly relationships had developed between people and staff. One person told us, “I have no worries about living here, I just love it”.

People felt their healthcare needs were met and they had access to professionals should this be required. One person told us, “If I want to see a Doctor, the person in charge organises it for me”.

People enjoyed an independent lifestyle and told us their choices and needs were met. They enjoyed the food, drink and activities that took place daily. One person told us, “Food is nice and plenty of choice”. Another person added, “We went on a trip to Pevensey Bay last week to a three-course meal and it was fantastic. We do exercises on a Monday to help us keep our joints from stiffening up”.

People felt the service was homely and welcoming to them and their visitors. One person told us, “We have a life of luxury here, it’s pretty good”. People told us they thought the service was well managed and they enjoyed living there. One person told us, “I came here for respite several times over the last seven years, and so I knew it was the place I wanted to come to when I needed to move out of my home, as I was safe and well looked after every time I came here”.

Staff had received training considered essential by the provider. It was clear from observing the care delivered and the feedback people and staff gave us, that they knew the best way to care for people in line with their needs and preferences.

The provider had systems of quality assurance to measure and monitor the standard of the service and drive improvement. These systems also supported people to stay safe by assessing and mitigating risks, ensuring that people were cared for in a person centred way and that the provider learned from any mistakes. Our own observations and the feedback we received supported this. People received high quality care from dedicated and enthusiastic staff that met their needs and improved their wellbeing. A member of staff said, “The manager 100% listens to us. The residents are happy, they live independently, it’s whatever they want to do”.

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 13 February 2018) and there was a breach of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor the intelligence we receive about this home and plan to inspect in line with our re-inspection schedule for those services rated Good. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.