14 February 2023
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Linden House Care Home is a residential care home providing accommodation for people who require personal care for up to 63 people in a single storey building. The service provides support to younger adults, people with physical disabilities, mental health needs, older people and dementia care. At the time of our inspection there were 42 people using the service.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Although the service had improved practices around thickeners, which was a recommendation at the last inspection, processes and procedures around medications were not always being followed, we made a recommendation around this. The service had made improvements around staffing and people felt there was enough staff. Recruitment checks were not always robust, we made a recommendation around this. Infection prevention and control practices were in place and we noted improvement in this area since the last inspection. Systems were in place to keep people safe. Peoples individual risks were being assessed and managed. Environmental checks were being completed.
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.
Governance systems were in place and had improved since our last inspection. Staff gave mixed views around management support. We made a recommendation around ensuring systems are developed and are effective. Views of people and staff were being sought, and the service was making improvements from lessons learned. The service was working in partnership with others.
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 27 April 2022). 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.
At our last inspection we made recommendations regarding staffing, infection prevention and control practice, and guidance and knowledge of staff around thickener. At this inspection we found the provider had acted on these recommendations.
Why we inspected
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 comprehensive inspection of this service on 17 March 2022. A breach of legal requirements was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve 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 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 Improvements 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 Linden House 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.