Solent Lodge

Updated 11 February 2025

Date of assessment: 20 February to 11 April 2025.

We carried out this assessment following concerns about governance and oversight. At this assessment we found breaches of regulations relating to safe care and treatment, staffing, and governance.

We assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. We found the service was not always supporting people with a learning disability in line with this statutory guidance.

We could not be assured restrictions imposed were always proportionate or the least restrictive option to reduce risk. Risks to people were not always assessed and reduced. Staff did not receive training and supervision to support them to effectively fulfil their roles. Medicines were not managed safely. Systems and processes were not in place to assess, monitor and improve care, or ensure compliance with the regulations. However, the provider was responsive and open to feedback and began to take action to address shortfalls. The home appeared clean and we observed mostly positive interactions between people and staff.

We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.

Updated 11 February 2025

People and relatives shared mostly positive feedback about their care. Comments from relatives included, “We feel confident that [person] is safe and treated with respect”, “We have noticed a massive change in [person’s] whole demeanour since he has been living at Solent Lodge. He is happy and that is very reassuring to us”, “[Person] is absolutely loving it [living at the home]” and “Most of the staff know my [relative] very well”. People’s comments included, “Very good condition yes [referring to the house]”, “Yes, yes I do [when asked if they felt safe]” and “Like them all [when asked about staff]”. However, people and relatives were not always involved in care planning and risk assessments, and we received mixed feedback about whether there was enough staff. While most feedback was positive, our inspection found elements of care did not meet the expected standards.