Archived: Northcourt Lodge Nursing Home

Northcourt Lodge Nursing Home is registered to provide a service for up to 22 older people. Some people are living with conditions associated with growing older such as various types and degrees of dementia and physical difficulties. There were 20 people living in the home on the day of the visit, one person was in hospital. The service offered ground and first floor accommodation in individual bedrooms. The first floor accommodation was accessed via a lift. The service has limited space to provide shared areas for people to socialise and interact with each other. However, the shared accommodation currently meets people’s needs and choices. The gardens are spacious, well-kept and enjoyed by people.

At the last inspection, on 14 July 2015, the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

Why the service is rated Good:

There is a registered manager running the service. 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.

Staff continued to ensure they kept people and themselves as safe as possible. The staff team remained aware of how to provide a safe and secure environment because their knowledge and training was regularly up-dated. People were protected from any form of abuse or poor practice and any risks were identified and managed to keep people as safe as possible. Staffing ratios continued to meet people’s needs safely. Recruitment procedures were followed to ensure appointees were suitable and safe to work with people. People’s medicines continued to be administered safely.

The staff team continued to respond very effectively to people’s current and changing needs. The staff team knew people and their needs very well and responded quickly to any changes or issues. People’s health and well-being needs were met in a timely way and the advice and assistance of outside professionals was sought and followed, as necessary.

People continued to be supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives. Staff offered them care in the least restrictive way possible, the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

The staff team remained kind, caring and committed to caring for people. They remained knowledgeable about people’s individual needs and respected people’s equality and diversity needs.

People continued to receive very good care from a well led and organised service. The registered manager was experienced and qualified and listened and responded to people, staff and others. The registered manager and the senior staff team were described as open, approachable and supportive.

The service kept good quality and well organised records and ensured they reviewed the quality of the service. They made changes, if necessary, to improve the quality of care they offered and people’s individual quality of life, if possible.

We spoke with staff who told us they liked the manager, they told us they are "caring and committed". One staff member told us that English wasn't their first language but the manager was helping them to improve their skills with English classes. They told us they felt their training was good and prepared them for caring for people.

We spoke with the provider who told us they wanted to "make a difference" and provide the "best for the elderly" they told us of their plans to improve the home so that people have a better experience and they could improve standards.

We spoke with a person's family member who told us they felt the care was good and they were "really happy with them". They told us they were involved intensely with the care of their family member and felt their wishes were at the forefront when planning and reviewing care.

We looked at four care plans and saw that a wide variety of assessments were used to ensure that people were cared for appropriately and that these were reviewed monthly and discussed with people and their families.

We looked at the care and welfare of people who used the service and found that people seemed happy with the level of care they were receiving, and that there was an effective care management system in place.

We looked at the safety and suitability of the premises, and found that both the building and the grounds were kept in good order and there was a record works, maintenance and periodic appliance testing.

We looked at how staff were supported through training, supervision and appraisal, and found that a training and induction programme was in place, and that staff received regular training and supervision. We also found that the provider encouraged staff to develop within the organisation.

We looked at how the service was monitored and assessed for quality and found the provider did not conduct regular whole-service reviews. However, we did find that the provider obtained feedback from people who used the service, relatives and staff members through the use of a range of questionnaires.