Archived: Trent Lodge Residential Care Home

Updated 23 June 2015

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

We undertook an unannounced focused inspection of Trent Lodge Residential Care Home on 29 April 2015.

This inspection was undertaken to check that improvements to meet legal requirements planned by the provider after our comprehensive inspection on 21 and 22 January 2015 had been made.

During the course of the inspection we looked at six people’s care plans and related risk assessments. We also checked other records in relation to environmental risk assessments, fire records, accident and incident records and monthly audit checks.

We spoke with the registered manager, the newly appointed deputy manager, two staff and three people who used the service.

We checked the provider’s action plan which they sent to us following the inspection we undertook in January 2015.

Updated 23 June 2015

This unannounced inspection took place on 21 and 22 January 2015 and was undertaken by two inspectors.

At our last inspection of this service in March 2014 the provider was not meeting all the regulations we looked at. We found that assessments of risks to people had not always been updated in response to people’s changing needs and following significant events affecting health and safety. Prior to the inspection in March 2014 we issued the provider and registered manager with a warning notice regarding their continued breach of regulation 9 of the Health and Social Care Act (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010. At this inspection we found that the registered manager and provider were still in breach of this regulation.

Trent Lodge provides accommodation and personal care for up to 16 older people. There are 14 rooms, two of which are shared rooms.

There was a registered manager in post. 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Although people told us they felt safe at the home, there were a number of checks and procedures that the registered manager and providers were not following that put people at unnecessary risk. The areas that were not being checked properly included people’s individual risk assessments, environmental risk assessments, the management of medicines, accidents at the home as well as staff recruitment.

There were no regular health and safety audits being undertaken which should have picked up the areas of concern that we found during this inspection.

The registered manager and staff at the home had not always identified and highlighted potential risks to people’s safety.

People and their relatives said they had good access to healthcare professionals such as doctors, dentists, chiropodists and opticians. However, some communication difficulties between the service and the local district nurse team left people at unnecessary risk.

Food looked and smelt appetising and the cook was aware of any special diets people required.

People told us they liked the staff who supported them and staff listened to them and respected their choices and decisions.

People and their relatives said they were satisfied with the numbers of staff and that they didn’t have to wait too long for assistance when they needed help.

Staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and told us they would presume a person could make their own decisions about their care and treatment. They told us that if the person could not make certain decisions then they would have to think about what was in that person’s “best interests” which would involve asking people close to the person as well as other professionals.

People using the service and their relatives were positive about the registered manager. They confirmed that they were asked about the quality of the service and had made comments about this. However, the registered manager and provider were not always carrying out their legal responsibilities for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the service was run.

We found a number of breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010. These breaches were in relation to people’s care and treatment, the management of medicines, individual risks to people’s safety, managing environmental risks, communication with other visiting healthcare professionals and the safe recruitment of staff. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.