Lavender House Care Home

Lavender House Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care to up to 22 people. The service provides support to older people, some of whom were living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 17 people using the service. The accommodation is spread over two floors, accessible via the stairs or stairlift. There is a secure garden which people can access.

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

Some aspects of the safety of the service required improvement. The arrangements for the management of medicines did not reflect best practice. Some records related to fire safety had not been completed consistently and not all mobility equipment was in good working order.

The leadership and governance of the home required improvement. This included work to ensure audits were effective in promoting improvement and identifying risks. The manager had applied to CQC to become the registered manager. They have acted upon feedback from this inspection and were putting plans in place to address the issues identified.

The provider did not ensure people’s needs were always fully assessed. People were not supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service did not support this practice.

Some staff required training updates and aspects of the home’s decoration needed updating.

People and relatives told us that staff were kind and caring. They felt they were treated with dignity and respect and consulted about decisions around their care. People gave us positive feedback around the quality and choice of food available.

People’s care plans reflected their preferences around their personal care. People and relatives gave mixed feedback around the quality of activities and meaningful occupation people were supported to access. There were appropriate systems in place to respond to complaints.

For more information, please read the detailed findings section of this report. If you are reading this as a separate summary, the full report can be found on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk

Last rating and update

The last rating for the service under the previous provider was good, published on 25 July 2018.

Why we inspected

This service had not been inspected since the new provider took over and we wanted to check people were receiving safe care and support

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

We have found breaches in relation to medicines management and governance at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of the full version of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.