Holly Lodge Nursing Home provides nursing and residential care for up to 60 people who are elderly, frail, with medical needs or are living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 56 people living in the home. This was an unannounced inspection which took place on 7 November 2016.
The home had 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. The registered manager helped us with our inspection on the day.
People’s dietary needs were not always respected by staff as some people were being given food which was not in line with their dietary requirements.
Staff understood the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. People were cared for by a sufficient number of staff. People would be protected from the risk of harm as systems were in place to keep them safe.
People were supported by individual staff who showed kindness and compassion. Staff respected people’s choices and decisions in their care needs. Each person had a care plan in place which detailed their needs and preferences. Staff were knowledgeable about people’s needs, likes and dislikes. People were supported to maintain relationships with people who were important to them. Activities were varied for people and people had the opportunity to participate in external activities.
Accidents and incidents were monitored and action taken to keep people safe where trends were identified. Staff had a clear understanding of how to safeguard people and knew what steps they should take if they suspected abuse. Records held for people were reviewed regularly and held detailed information about people.
There was a contingency plan in the event of an emergency and evacuation plans had been written for each person to help support them safely in the event of an emergency. Regular audits of the service were carried out to review the quality of the service provided.
Medicines were managed well and records showed that people received their medicines in accordance with prescription guidance. People were supported to maintain good health and had regular access to a range of healthcare professionals.
Prior to starting work at the home recruitment checks were completed to help ensure only suitable staff were employed. All new staff completed an induction to enable them to learn about the home and people’s needs. Training was provided and staff received supervision and staff appraisals. Staff told us they felt supported by the management and worked well together as a team.
A complaints policy was in place and people knew how to make a complaint and were confident their concerns would be addressed. Relatives told us they were involved in the running of the home through residents and relatives meetings and suggestions and ideas they raised were listened to.
Relatives and staff told us they felt the home was well-led and that the registered manager was approachable.
During the inspection we found one breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.