Archived: Abbey Lodge

Each person had a care plan which included details on how they wanted staff to support them. Care plans included a 'missing person' Performa which could be handed to the police should a person go missing. Individual risk assessments had been undertaken but we found that one person's risk assessment did not contain vital information to ensure that the person and other people were kept safe. This was addressed by the home on the day of our inspection.

The home had its own safeguarding policy and procedure in place and also had a copy of Hertfordshire safeguarding vulnerable adults 'making a referral' document. This provided details of how staff could make a referral to the local authority safeguarding team.

The home had an appropriate recruitment process in place and checks had been made to ensure that staff were suitable and qualified for the post. We saw evidence that staff had received mandatory training, but staff did not always receive supervision and did not receive a yearly appraisal. Staff we spoke with felt that there was enough staff to meet the needs of the people who resided in the home.

The provider had undertaken health and safety checks but had not always responded to the findings to ensure that people were residing in a safe environment. There was not an appropriate system in place to obtain the views of relatives and stakeholders.

We found that people's activities in the community were sometimes restricted.

Risk assessments did not always provide staff with adequate information on how to deal with the risk.

Some staff we spoke with did not understand the concept of safeguarding vulnerable adults and the home's policy and procedure was not readily available for staff to refer to.

The home did not have effective and robust processes and procedures in place which ensured that staff members were suitably employees.

Staff shortages meant that the manager was required to cover staff when people who used the service were assisted by staff to undertake activities in the community.

The home did not have sufficient number of staff to meet the needs of the service users.

Staff had not been given regular supervision to discuss their progress and any concerns and not all staff had received the mandatory training that they needed to carry out their role.

The home did not have effective systems in place to regularly assess and monitor the quality of the service that people received.

The home did not have an effective complaints system available.