About the service Haslingden Hall and the Lodge is a purpose built care home located in a residential area of Haslingden, Lancashire. The home provides care and accommodation for up to 76 people including, people living with dementia and people with physical disabilities. There were 56 people accommodated in the home at the time of the inspection.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Whilst people had mixed views about the service, they told us staff employed by the home were caring and respectful. There were sufficient staff deployed to meet people’s needs, however, staff on the ground floor were not well organised, which resulted in them missing a care task on the first day of the inspection. There were shortfalls in people’s care plans and records and risks to people’s health safety and well-being had not always been assessed and managed.
The provider had established safeguarding systems and processes, however, staff had not alerted the registered manager to three incidents which occurred in October 2021. This meant the information had not been raised with the local authority under local safeguarding procedures. The registered manager raised the alerts during the inspection.
Whilst police checks and references had been obtained prior to new staff working in the home, we noted there were gaps in two staff members’ recruitment records. The registered manager assured us this issue would be addressed.
The registered manager and staff followed safe processes to ensure people's medicines were managed safely. However, we noted shortfalls in the way people’s prescribed creams were recorded.
The home had a satisfactory standard of cleanliness and staff were following current infection prevention and control guidance. We observed all staff were wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) appropriately during the inspection. There were plentiful supplies of PPE and there were posters displayed around the home to reinforce procedures.
Staff spoken with were complimentary about the management of the home. The registered manager and area manager had completed a series of audits covering the operation of the service and had devised action plans following any shortfalls. However, the action plans had not been fully implemented and followed up to ensure the necessary improvements had been made and sustained.
People and their relatives had been invited to complete satisfaction surveys, however, the relatives spoken with felt methods of communication could be improved.
Following the inspection, the registered manager sent us an action plan which set out their response to the inspection findings. We will check improvements to the service on our next visit to the home.
Rating at the last inspection
The service was registered with us on 25 November 2019 and was last inspected on 19 November 2020 (published 18 December 2020). The home was not rated. The last rating for the service under the previous provider was good, published on 5 September 2019.
Why we inspected
We received concerns in relation to people’s care, infection prevention and control practices, record keeping and management of the home, as a result we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.
We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them.
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.
You can read the report from our last inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Haslingden Hall and Lodge on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
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 discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.
We have identified breaches in relation to the management of risks and safeguarding incidents as well as the governance of the service.
You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
Follow up
We will request an action plan for 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 return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.