Archived: Lower Ridge Home for Older People

Updated 30 June 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 18 and 19 May 2016 and the first day was unannounced. The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector.

Before the inspection, we contacted the local authority contracting unit for feedback and checked the information we held about the service and the provider. We also contacted a representative from the local authority’s safeguarding team.

During the inspection, we used a number of different methods to help us understand the experiences of people who lived in the home. We spoke with the registered manager, the cook, four care staff, ten people living in the home and three relatives. We also spoke with a healthcare professional and discussed our findings with a senior manager.

We looked at six people's care files, two staff record files, the staff training records, the staff rota, medicine records, meeting minutes, complaints records, a sample of the policies and procedures and quality assurance records.

Updated 30 June 2016

We carried out an inspection of Lower Ridge Home for Older People on 18 and 19 May 2016. The first day was unannounced.

Lower Ridge Home for Older People is registered to provide accommodation and personal care for up to 35 older people. The home is located close to Burnley town centre and is set in its own grounds. Accommodation is provided on three floors linked by a passenger lift and stairs. At the time of the inspection there were 19 people accommodated in the home.

The service was managed by a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission 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.

At the last inspection on 24 and 26 November 2014, we asked the provider to make improvements to the arrangements in place to manage medicines, the recruitment of new staff, staff supervision and appraisal and the quality assurance systems. Following the inspection the provider sent us an action plan which set out what action they intended to take to improve the service.

During this inspection, we found the necessary improvements had been made. However, we found there was a breach of one regulation relating to the timely notification of specific events and incidents which had occurred in the home. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report. We also sent a letter reminding the registered person of their responsibility to notify the Commission of events as outlined within regulations. We made one recommendation in respect of the temperature in the medicine storage room.

People living in the home said they felt safe and staff treated them well. Appropriate recruitment checks took place before staff started work. There were enough staff on duty and deployed throughout the home to meet people's care and support needs. Safeguarding adults’ procedures were robust and staff understood how to safeguard the people they supported from abuse. There was a whistle-blowing procedure available and staff said they would use it if they needed to. People's medicines were managed appropriately and people received their medicines as prescribed by health care professionals. However we noted the temperature in the room used to store medicines was in excess of 25°C. This meant there was the potential risk to the effectiveness and potency of the medicines.

Staff had completed an induction when they started work and they were up to date with the provider's mandatory training. The registered manager and staff understood the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and acted according to this legislation. There were appropriate arrangements in place to ensure that people were receiving the food and fluids as recorded in their support plans. People had access to a GP and other health care professionals when they needed them.

Staff treated people in a respectful and dignified manner and people's privacy was respected. People living in the home and their relatives, where appropriate, had been consulted about their care and support needs. Support plans and risk assessments provided guidance for staff on how to meet people’s needs. There was a range of appropriate activities available for people to enjoy. People and their relatives knew about the home's complaints procedure and said they were confident any complaints would be fully investigated and action taken if necessary.

All people, their relatives and staff told us the home was well managed and operated smoothly.

The registered manager took into account the views of people and their relatives about the quality of care provided through consultation, meetings and surveys. The registered manager used the feedback to make improvements.