Pine Lodge

Updated 10 April 2020

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, 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 was carried out by one inspector, an assistant 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.

Service and service type:

Pine Lodge 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.

Pine Lodge is also a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means 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:

The inspection was unannounced in the residential home on the first day of inspection and announced at the domiciliary care service on the second day of inspection.

What we did before inspection

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. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). 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 used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

During the inspection we spoke with 22 people using the service, four relatives and seven staff members which included the registered manager and nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. Some people we met were not able to fully tell us about their experiences. We therefore used our observations of care and feedback gained to help form our judgements.

We reviewed eight people’s care and support records and seven staff files. We also looked at records relating to the management of the service such as incident and accident records, meeting minutes, training records, policies, audits and complaints.

After the inspection

We spoke to a further two staff members.

Updated 10 April 2020

About the service:

Pine Lodge provides accommodation and personal care for up to 22 older people, some of whom are living with dementia. There were 19 people living at the service at the time of the inspection. Pine Lodge also had a home care service located on the same site. This provided domiciliary care to older people living in their own homes in the Milton and Weston Super Mare areas. 55 people were receiving a service at the time of our inspection.

Pine Lodge is located over two floors, with communal lounges and a dining room on the ground floor. There was a garden area at the front.

People’s experience of using this service:

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.

Medicines were managed and administered safely. However, we found temperatures of medicines storage areas were sometimes too high. We have made a recommendation in relation to this. Whilst recruitment processes were followed, in some cases we found further clarification of employment history was needed.

People were supported by staff who were kind, caring and dedicated to their roles. Staff ensured they developed positive and consistent relationships with people. Staff respected people’s dignity and privacy.

There was enough staff to support people safely and spend time engaged with people. People experienced visits to their homes which were on time and responsive to their changing needs.

People enjoyed the food provided by the service and were supported with their nutrition and hydration requirements.

Staff were observant to people’s healthcare needs and supported people to access additional services.

Care plans were person centred and showed people’s routines and preferences. The service promoted people’s indepedence which was important to people.

Pine Lodge was well managed. People spoke highly of the registered manager. Systems were in place to monitor and review the quality of the service.

For more details, please see the full report which is on CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection:

The last rating for this service was Good (published 22 August 2017).

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.