We carried out a review of the data available to us about Fenham Lodge on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Fenham Lodge, you can give feedback on this service.
Fenham Lodge is a residential care home providing personal care for up to seven people with a learning disability. There were seven people living at the service at the time of inspection. The service is a large single-story building with seven single bedrooms, a communal lounge, kitchen, laundry and bathroom facilities. There is a garden to the front and rear. The two-bedroom extension is self-contained with a kitchen and bathroom for those who would benefit from more independent living.
The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Without exception, everyone spoken with told us staff were kind, caring and compassionate. The provider was passionate about providing care that met the needs of all people. The provider promoted a caring culture that weaved throughout the whole service with people being at the heart and with an ethos of ‘putting people first’.
Care plans demonstrated person-centred care and people were very much involved in their care planning and choice in how they spent their time. People and relatives described the service as ‘home from home’. Relatives told us they felt their family members were safe and praised the care and support they were receiving. They told us the service was amazing, care was outstanding and were highly complimentary about the management and staff.
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.
The service applied the principles and value of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence.
The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.
People were empowered to live the best life they could. Achieving own aims and goals was very much at the centre of the service. Some people held jobs which provided them with independence and a sense of purpose and achievement. Another volunteered at the local horse-riding stables and assisted people with a disability to enjoy horse-riding. People attended college to pursue various courses. Activities to enable self-development and socialisation to provide inclusiveness, were a fundamental part of the service and they worked closely with the local community, enabling people to become involved in social events. People had opportunities to attend holidays, both with their families and the service.
Sport and music were appreciated by all people and the professionals who work closely with the home told us how engaged the staff were in assisting people to achieve the most from all activities. Staff recognised individual’s communication requirements and we observed staff interacting with people in a meaningful way.
People appeared happy and confident. They were excited to show us their rooms which were personalised to meet their individual personality. The evening mealtime was a social event which people and staff shared. We observed laughter and conversation and there was a genuine interest as everyone shared events of their day.
Safe staff recruitment processes were followed, and staff received training and supervision. People enjoyed the continuity of regular staff. Medicines were administered as prescribed and staff followed infection control procedures. There was regular oversight of the service to ensure quality audits were undertaken, analysed and action taken where required.
The provider and registered manager worked in harmony together and staff were respectful of the management team, acknowledging they were approachable and that they had confidence in them.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection: Good (published 9 August 2017)
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
People were safe because staff supported them to understand how to keep safe and staff knew how to manage risk effectively. There were sufficient numbers of care staff on shift with the correct skills and knowledge to keep people safe. There were appropriate arrangements in place for medicines to be stored and administered safely.
The Care Quality Commission is required by law to monitor how a provider applies the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and to report on what we find. DoLS are in place to protect people where they do not have capacity to make decisions and where it is considered necessary to restrict their freedom in some way. Management and staff understood their responsibility in this area. Staff were committed to ensuring all decisions were made in people’s best interest.
Staff had good relationships with people who used the service and were attentive to their needs. People’s privacy and dignity was respected at all times. People and their relatives were involved in making decisions about their care and support.
Care plans were individual and contained information about how people preferred to communicate and their ability to make decisions.
People were encouraged to take part in activities that they enjoyed, and were supported to keep in contact with family members. When needed, they were supported to see health professionals and referrals were put through to ensure they had the appropriate care and treatment.
Relatives and staff were complimentary about the management of the service. Staff understood their roles and responsibilities in providing safe and good quality care to the people who used the service.
The management team had systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service provided.
Fenham Lodge provides accommodation and personal care for seven people who have a learning disability and require 24 hour support and care.
This was an unannounced inspection which meant the service and staff did not know we were visiting.
A registered manager was in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
The CQC is required by law to monitor the operation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DOLS) and to report on what we find. We found the location was meeting the requirements of the DOLs.
People who used the service told us that the service was a safe place to live. There were procedures in place which advised staff about how to safeguard the people who used the service from abuse. Staff understood the various types of abuse and knew who to and how to report any concerns.
There were procedures and processes in place to guide staff on how to ensure the safety of the people who used the service. These included checks on the environment and risk assessments which identified how risks to people were minimised.
There were appropriate arrangements in place to ensure people’s medicines were obtained, stored and administered safely.
There were sufficient numbers of staff who were trained and supported to meet the needs of the people who used the service.
Staff had good relationships with people who used the service and were attentive to their needs. Staff respected people’s privacy and dignity and interacted with people in a caring, respectful and professional manner.
People were involved in making decisions about their care and support. People’s care plans had been tailored to the individual and contained information about how they communicated and their ability to make decisions. The service was up to date with recent changes to the law regarding DOLs and Mental Capacity Act (2005) and staff had received recent training on this subject.
People were supported to see, when needed, health and social care professionals to make sure they received appropriate care and treatment. People spoke highly about the quality of the food and the choices available.
A complaints procedure was in place. Everyone we asked said they would be comfortable to raise any concerns with the staff, manager or provider.
People, relatives and staff were complimentary about the management of the service. Staff understood their roles and responsibilities in providing safe and good quality care to the people who used the service. The service identified shortfalls in the service provision and took actions to address them.
Staff had access to detailed care and support plans to ensure that they provided people with safe, appropriate, individual care and support. This was done in a way that respected an individual's right to live as independent as possible. A person we spoke with told us that they were, 'Happy living here.' Another person said, 'I am happy here. Staff make me happy. Staff help me cook.'
The provider had not recruited any new staff members since they had registered with the Care Quality Commission in 2010. However we did see that the provider undertook necessary checks on prospective staff members to ensure that they were suitable to work with vulnerable adults.
In the staff files we reviewed we saw evidence of staff training and staff supervisions and appraisals. This indicated to us that people using the service received safe support and care from suitable, skilled and knowledgeable staff.
People told us that they chose what they wanted to do in their lives and that the staff listened to them and acted on what they said. One person said, 'I choose what I want to do.' People told us that they had made choices about the activities they participated in, their work and what they ate.
We saw that staff interacted with people in a caring, respectful and professional manner. The staff listened to and acted on the choices that people made during our inspection.
We looked at the care records of three people who used the service and found that people experienced care, treatment and support that met their needs and protected their rights.
Staff personnel records that were seen showed that staff were trained to meet the needs of the people who used the service.