• Care Home
  • Care home

Lucerne House

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

12 Mitten Road, Bexhill On Sea, East Sussex, TN40 1QL (01424) 224181

Provided and run by:
Care Pro (South East) Limited

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 3 March 2023

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

There was one inspector.

Service and service type

Lucerne House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Lucerne House is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

This service also provides care and support to people living in several ‘supported living’ settings, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support. Only one person was in receipt of personal care.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.

We reviewed the information we held about the service and the service provider. We looked at notifications we had received for this service. Notifications are information about important events the service is required to send us by law. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During and after our inspection

We started our inspection on 24 January 2023. At Lucerne House we spoke with 6 people and observed staff interacting with others to help us understand the experience of people living at the service. We spoke with the registered manager, the provider, office manager and 4 members of the staff team. On 26 January 2023 at the supported living service, we spoke with the service manager and 3 members of the staff team. At Lucerne House we spent time reviewing records, which included records relating to health and safety, staff recruitment and the management of the home. On 9 February 2023 we also spoke with 1 person’s relatives and received correspondence from 2 visiting professionals. Since then we received correspondence from another 2 people’s relatives and from 3 professionals. We also continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate the evidence found. We looked at 4 care plans, audits, training data, quality assurance records and meeting minutes.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 3 March 2023

About the service

Lucerne House a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care for 10 people with learning disabilities and autism. There were 10 people living at the home when we inspected. Some people have specialist needs associated with dementia, autism, mental health and epilepsy.

In addition to Lucerne House, the provider also runs a separate supported living service for 42 people living with learning disabilities and or mental health who lived in their own homes. Only one person received support with personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right Support:

Although a large service, the model of care took people’s individual needs and risks into account. Communal areas were used to ensure people had space and some people enjoyed spending time in their rooms. There were plans to refurbish the garden office to create additional space for people to spend their time. Processes to assess and monitor risks were consistently implemented across the different areas of the home and supported living service.

People told us they felt safe living at Lucerne House we observed people in both settings were relaxed in the company of staff. Safeguarding concerns had been responded to promptly.

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.

Right Care:

People’s received their medicines safely and where appropriate, people were supported to manage, or part manage their own medicines.

There were enough staff to meet people’s needs and wishes. Some people went to day centres and others were supported to participate in activities of their choice. People told us they enjoyed what they did and had regular opportunities to attend church, some went swimming and some enjoyed theatre, shopping and restaurants.

A health professional told us, “I feel the clients are safe and staff are very confident when supporting clients. The home is well managed, and the manager and deputy will always seek advice at any time when needed. The staff are very caring and yes, they understand the clients’ needs.”

Right Culture:

There were effective systems to monitor the quality of the service. Audits were comprehensive and were effective in identifying any shortfalls which were then promptly addressed. The home had identified some improvements needed in relation to developing some areas of record keeping and work was underway to address this.

There was a positive staff culture and ethos in the way people were supported which led to people developing independence and doing things they enjoyed. Local links had been established which further enhanced people’s lives within the area the lived. People’s relatives felt that there was good communication and they were kept informed and equally could contact the service if they had any concerns.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 16 March 2021).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service remains good.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.