Quinton Lodge

Quinton Lodge provides assistance with personal care to people living in their own individual flats with shared facilities. The premises consist of 31 flats. At the time of the inspection all 24 people who were living at Quinton Lodge received personal care. This is where people receive 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

People said they felt safe living at Quinton Lodge and received care and support from a consistent group of staff who were kind and respectful towards them. Staff knew about people’s support needs and managed risks associated with people’s health and wellbeing to keep them safe from harm. Staff were aware of how to identify potential abuse and how to protect people from abuse. Staff had been recruited safely and there were sufficient numbers of staff to support people’s needs.

New staff completed an induction and all staff received regular ongoing training to update their knowledge and skills. Checks were made to ensure staff followed the provider's policies and procedures to ensure care was provided to people as required. Staff received ongoing support through supervision meetings with their manager. Staff worked with other professionals to ensure people had access to healthcare support if needed.

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. Staff understood they needed to seek people’s consent before providing care and knew it was important to support people’s independence.

Care plans were person centred and contained instructions for staff to follow to ensure people received care safely and in accordance with choices they had made. People were supported with their medicines during specific care calls and people said they received their medicines as prescribed.

Staff followed the provider’s infection control policy and procedure to prevent the spread of infection and had access to personal protective equipment to maintain good hygiene practice.

People shared positive relationships with staff and were involved in decisions about how their care was provided. People said the staff were caring, supportive and approachable and they felt at ease to raise any concerns with them if needed. Arrangements were in place to provide information in different formats to make it more accessible to people if required.

People felt the service was well managed and were complimentary of management staff. Staff told us they felt supported in their role by the management team. Quality monitoring checks were completed by the provider to ensure any areas of improvement were noted and people received the care and support they should expect. Areas people had identified for improvement had been acted upon. Accidents and incidents people experienced were recorded and monitored by the provider to reduce the risk of reoccurrence.

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 14 September 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

Quinton Lodge provides housing with care. The unit consists of 31 flats. People live in their own home and staff provide personal care and support at pre-arranged times and in emergencies. Included in these flats were five short term tenancies. These provided people with an opportunity to regain skills after being in hospital, or in the community to assess if they were able to continue at home or needed to move somewhere with more support. At the time of our inspection 18 people were receiving support with personal care.

At the last inspection in December 2014, the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

There was a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered providers and registered managers 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.

People continued to receive care in ways which helped them to remain as safe as possible. Staff understood the risks to people’s safety, and were able to respond to them. Staff we spoke with recognised the different types of abuse people may be at risk of. There were systems in place to guide staff in reporting any concerns and support people to remain safe. There were regular staff available to ensure people’s needs were met. People were supported to receive their medicines by trained staff who knew the risks associated with them. The management team completed regular checks to ensure staff were competent in their role.

The care people received continued to be effective. Staff received training which matched the needs of people they supported. People were supported to have choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice. Staff ensured people agreed to the support offered before assisting them. People were supported to eat and drink well when part of their identified needs. They were supported to stay well and access to health care services when they needed to.

People had developed caring relationships with staff and were encouraged to make their own choices and maintain their independence. People were treated with dignity and staff were respectful to people’s wishes. People and their relatives said staff and management team were compassionate and kind.

People and their relatives’ views and suggestions were listened to. People’s care plans reflected their preferences and people told us the service adapted to meet their needs. Systems were in place to promote and manage complaints.

Staff were involved in meetings, to share their views and concerns about the quality of the service. People and staff said the management team were accessible and would take action when needed.

People, their relatives and staff were encouraged to make any suggestions to improve the care provided and develop the service further. Regular checks were in place to monitor the quality of the service and improvements were driven through for the benefit of people who were supported by the service.

We visited the service on a weekday and looked at records. We observed how people were being cared for and we talked with people who used the service. We spoke to people who lived there and observed some people having lunch. We spoke to staff and to the registered manager.

Staff had a good knowledge and understanding of the individual needs of people living at Quinton Lodge. All the interactions we observed were friendly, positive and informal.

We spoke to two relatives. One relative said 'The staff are very very pleasant.' People told us that support staff were polite to them. One person told us 'I like it here, they are nice here.'

Care and treatment was planned and delivered in a way that was intended to ensure people's safety and welfare.

People were cared for by staff who were supported to deliver care safely and to an appropriate standard. All the staff we spoke with said they felt supported in their work. One staff member said 'I've recently been on some training, I've got some more coming up.'

The report told us following the Care Quality Commission visit it was necessary to revisit the staff team understanding of the complaints procedure, and their role within it. The manager contacted Coventry City Council training and development centre to arrange a complaints awareness session at Quinton Lodge.

The report also told us complaints information would be communicated to the tenants via the tenants meeting and within individual tenant reviews. Quality assurance questionnaires to tenants would include questions regarding the management of complaints. The complaints procedure had been added to the agenda of the yearly family forum that was held in March 2013. Managers would monitor and audit all complaints received.

During our visit we were told about the poor attitude of one staff member if people raised concerns. The report told us action had been taken to review and monitor their practice.

The report from the provider showed that appropriate action had been taken to ensure there is an effective system in place for identifying, receiving, handling and responding appropriately to complaints.

We spoke with six people who used the service and two relatives who were visiting. People told us they were happy with the service provided by Quinton Lodge. Comments we received included 'The care staff are absolutely superb.' 'It's a brilliant place, the staff are all very helpful.'

We looked at how people's care was being managed. We found care records provided staff with the information they required to meet people's needs. There was also a procedure to make sure care was delivered safely. We saw that staff recorded the things they had done and signed the times they arrived and left people's homes.

Staff we spoke with knew how to recognise symptoms of abuse and what to do to keep people safe. We found staff supported people to maintain independence and make their own decisions.

There were processes in place to safely recruit staff and provide staff with the training and support to meet the care needs of people.

We looked at the way the service managed complaints. We found that complaints could be managed better so people can be sure their comments and complaints are listened to and acted on effectively.