16 August 2022
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Stockton Lodge Care Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 42 people. The service provides support to adults, some of whom are living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 33 people using the service.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People we spoke with were happy living at Stockton Lodge and felt the staff took good care of them. One person told us, “I am very well cared for. I’ve liked being here. It’s safe.”
Medicines were managed safely. There were systems for ensuring people's safety, however we found some records did not include all necessary information. Following our feedback the registered manager made the necessary improvements straight away. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs and support them safely. The provider had systems and processes in place to protect people from the risk of abuse. The provider had appropriate measures in place to minimise the spread of infection. Lessons were learned following accidents and incidents.
Most people’s care records were up to date and accurate, however, records for those people at the home for a short stay needed to include more detail. The registered manager acted on this straight away. Staff demonstrated a good knowledge of the people they support and considered people’s communication needs when delivering care. People were able to maintain relationships with friends and relatives. Staff supported people to take part in a range of activities. The provider had a complaints procedure in place and any concerns were dealt with appropriately.
Staff felt supported in their roles and told us morale amongst the staff team was good. Staff, people using the service and their relatives told us the manager was approachable and all felt they could go to them with any concerns or ideas. The provider asked for feedback via surveys and questionnaires and action was taken in response to comments received. The registered manager was conducting regular audits and when issues were identified work was done to rectify them. The registered manager and staff liaised with external professionals to ensure people had access to the support they needed.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
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 20 August 2019)
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 inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.
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 COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.
We carried out an unannounced inspection of this service on 9 September 2020. 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, 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 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 Stockton Lodge Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.