Archived: Meadow Lodge Care Home

Updated 1 May 2021

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 Care Act 2014.

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

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors and an assistant inspector, who visited the home on the 10 February 2021. One inspector returned on 11 February 2021 to continue the inspection.

Service and service type

Meadow Lodge is a 'care home'. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. 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 (CQC) at the time of this inspection. 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

We gave short notice and contacted the service the day before we visited. This was because the service had a recent Covid 19 outbreak and we needed to ensure arrangements were in place to assist us with our inspection.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since our last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority. We did not ask for a provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with six people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with nine staff including the registered manager, deputy manager, senior care staff, care staff, cook and domestic staff. We also spoke with the registered provider and two health care professionals. We reviewed a range of records. This included four people's care records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment. We also looked at medication records and checks and audits that related to the management and quality assurance of the service.

After the inspection

We looked at additional records sent to us by the provider. This included the recruitment policy, staff training records and staff rotas.

Updated 1 May 2021

About the service

Meadow Lodge is a care home providing accommodation and personal care people for younger adults and people aged 65 and over. At the time of the inspection 11 people were living at the home. The service can support up to 22 people.

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

The provider has a poor history of meeting the regulation. When improvements are made, they are not always sustained. The provider had a quality monitoring system in place, this was not always effective. Issues were identified and not acted on in a timely way or the system did not identify the issues.

The environment was not always maintained in a way that ensured people’s safety. Infection control practices were in place but not consistently effective. The management of risk’s to people was not always effective and placed people at risk of potential harm.

Medication was not always stored or managed safely. People’s care records were not always detailed, accurate and kept up to date.

Staff knew how to report concerns of abuse and there was enough staff to respond to people’s request for care. However, not all staff felt the service was well managed.

People told us they were happy with their care and felt safe living at Meadow Lodge.

Rating at last inspection and update.

The last rating for this service was Requires Improvement (Published on 12 November 2019).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted due to concerns about poor infection prevention and control (IPC) and whistleblowing concerns including concerns about the management of the service. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

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 coronavirus and other infection outbreaks effectively.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. We only looked at safe and well led during this inspection. We did not look at the key questions of effective, caring and responsive. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

The overall rating for the service remains as Requires Improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvement. Please see the safe and well led sections of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Meadow Lodge care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

We have identified three breaches in relation to safe care, premises and good governance. Full information about CQC's regulatory response to the more serious concerns found during inspections are added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.

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

Follow up

We will meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. We will also request an action plan for the provider to

understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety.