Archived: Wessex Lodge Retirement Home

The service is registered to accommodate up to 29 people and provides care and support for older people. The service is split over two floors which were all accessible by stairs, stairlift or a lift. There were 23 people using the service at time of inspection.

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

People told us they felt safe living at Wessex Lodge Retirement Home. The staff demonstrated a good understanding of how to meet people’s individual needs. People’s outcomes were known, and staff worked with people to help achieve these. People were supported and encouraged to maintain their independence and live their lives as fully as possible.

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.

People were supported to maintain contact with those important to them including family and friends. Staff understood the importance of these contacts for people’s health and well-being. Staff knew people well and what made them individuals.

The management of the service were respected. Staff had a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities and were supported to reflect on their practice and pursue learning opportunities. The staff team worked and got on well together demonstrating team work.

Quality and safety checks helped ensure people were safe and protected from harm. This meant the service could continually improve. Audits helped identify areas for improvement and this learning was shared with staff.

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 9 February 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.

Wessex Lodge Retirement Home provides accommodation, care and support for up to 29 older people. At the time of the inspection there were 23 people living at the home. Wessex Lodge Retirement 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.

People told us they felt safe and enjoyed living at the home. They said staff were friendly, kind and caring. Staff knew how to prevent, identify and report abuse and the provider had a system in place to protect people from the risk of harm.

People’s needs were assessed including areas of risk, and reviewed to ensure people's safety. Support was offered in accordance with people’s wishes and their privacy was protected. Staff knew people well, understood their physical and personal care needs and treated them with dignity and respect. Wherever possible people and their relatives were involved in assessing and planning the care and support they received.

People received their prescribed medicine when they needed it and appropriate arrangements were in place for the storage and disposal of medicines.

People were cared for, or supported by, sufficient numbers of suitably qualified and experienced staff. Robust recruitment and selection procedures ensured staff were recruited safely. Staff were knowledgeable about their role and spoke positively regarding the induction, training and support they received.

The manager was aware of their responsibilities in regard to the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). These safeguards aim to protect people living in care homes and hospitals from being inappropriately deprived of their liberty.

There was a system in place for people to raise concerns and complaints. People knew how to make a complaint and felt confident they would be listened to if they needed to raise concerns or queries.

People told us they felt the service was well led, with an open, friendly and supportive management structure in place.

There were systems in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service provided.

Some of the people who use the service had complex needs which meant that they were not able to tell us about their experiences; we therefore used our observations to help inform some of our judgements. We observed staff interacting with people who use the service in a respectful manner, calling people by their first names and offering choices. People who use the service appeared relaxed, content and at ease in their surroundings.

We spent time in the lounge and dining area observing the support people received before and during their meal. We saw that the staff were friendly, respectful and that they were quick to respond if anyone appeared unhappy or distressed. People told us that "Staff are so nice". "We are well looked after, I have no complaints".

People said that they had no concerns about how their personal care needs were met. They also told us that if they were unwell then staff would contact a doctor for them. They told us that staff were available when people needed them and knew what care they required.

Care and treatment was planned and delivered in a way that ensured people's welfare. We saw care plans were based on assessments that had been carried out to identify what help people needed and any potential risks to their welfare.

We saw that appropriate storage facilities for all types of medication were available and that these were secure when we visited, however medication records were not always completed as intended following administration of prescribed medication. Effective recruitment and selection processes were in place which ensured people were cared for by suitably qualified, skilled and experienced staff.

People said that they had no complaints about the service and that if they did they would speak to the staff or the manager.

Outcome 10- Safety and suitability of premises

Outcome 14- Supporting workers

Following the inspection the provider provided us with an action plan which told us how compliance would be achieved within a set timescale.

The aim of this inspection was to check whether Wessex Lodge had updated their staff training programme and made improvements in relation to the safety and suitability of their premises.

We were assisted throughout the inspection by the home's owner. We conducted a tour of the premises and checked all the improvements had been completed as stated in the provider's action plan.

We spoke with one care worker about the training they had recently received and they told us, 'I've completed the manual handling training, and I found it was very useful'.

During our visit we observed how relaxed and happy the atmosphere in the home was and people were being given their personal care in a respectful and dignified way.

One person we spoke with who lived in the home said they were 'very happy' living in the home and they liked their room that was 'nice and cosy'. Another person we spoke with who lived in the home told us they enjoyed going out and about and were always made to feel very welcome when they arrived back at Wessex Lodge.

We found that care plans reflected people's needs and had been written in a person centred way.

People we spoke with said there was always enough staff available to make sure they received the care they needed.

We observed the staff were confident in their roles and knew the people who lived in the home well.

People told us they found their surroundings comfortable, but we found that people may be at risk because the environment was not always safely maintained.

Some members of staff had not received all of the elements of the mandatory training.