Lanercost House - Carlyle Suite

Updated 18 April 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team: The inspection was carried out by two inspectors.

Service and service type: Lanercost House - Carlyle Suite is a care home which provides nursing care. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection: The inspection was unannounced.

What we did: Our inspection was planned using the information we held about the service, including the completed Provider Information Return. Providers are required to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used feedback from the local authority to help plan our inspection.

During the inspection we looked at: three people’s care plans, three staff recruitment files, information relating to staff training and management of the home.

People who used the service were not always able to verbally tell us about their views of the service. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We spoke with four relatives, and observed a relative’s meeting where an additional relative shared their feedback on the service.

We spoke with the registered manager, the provider’s regional manager, the deputy manager, a nurse, six care staff, and the activities coordinator

After the inspection we asked the registered manager for some additional information which they shared with us. We spoke with four health and social care professionals about their views on the service.

Updated 18 April 2019

About the service: Lanercost House - Carlyle Suite is a complex dementia care home which provides care for up to 15 people. The service specialises in providing care to people living with a complex dementia need. At the time of the inspection 13 people were being cared for at the service.

People’s experience of using this service: Relatives were very positive about the caring nature of staff and the quality of care people received. Relatives described their family members as happy and relaxed with staff. One relative said, “We have no concerns at all. My family member is safe and very well looked after.”

Improvements had been made to the way risks were assessed, monitored and communicated to staff. People received their care as planned. The provider had learned lessons from our previous inspection and a recent safeguarding incident. They had put in place a number of improvements in response.

Systems were in place and followed so people were safe. People received their medicines as prescribed. The home was clean.

There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. Recruitment processes had been followed. Staff received a range of training and regular supervision meetings.

People regularly went on trips in the community and a range of activities were planned around their interests to support people with their social needs.

Relatives and staff were very positive about how well the service was run. The provider listened to people’s feedback and made changes based on their views.

The provider had made improvements to the checks they carried out to monitor the quality of the service they provided. They had increased the management presence in the home and carried out more observations of staff practice.

Rating at last inspection: Requires improvement (previous report published September 2018).

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection in line with Care Quality Commission scheduling guidelines for adult social care services.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.

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