Archived: Park Lodge Care Home

The home is divided into 5 units each with a dedicated staff team. We visited all the units, met people living and working there and observed care and support. We took a specialist pharmacy inspector with us to look at how medicines were being managed at the home. When we last visited the home we had serious concerns about medication management. At this visit we found that there had been improvements and in general people had the support they needed with their medicines.

Throughout our visit we saw a range of activities and support. In some areas of the home the staff and people living there were enjoying spending time together. They were playing various games, sharing jokes and appeared relaxed and comfortable. However, we also saw that some staff did not give people special attention or time. They supported people in a polite but practical way, rather than engaging with the person. We saw examples of staff performing care tasks without talking to the person or asking about their wants, needs or wishes. Some staff spoke to people only briefly, did not initiate conversations and left the person's questions unanswered.

Some of the people who we spoke with told us that they were very happy at the home. One person said, 'the staff always greet you with a warm smile, whatever task they are doing'. Another person said, 'I think the staff here have saved my life and I really mean that'. Other people had mixed feelings about the home. One person said, 'there is nothing to do here'. Another person told us that they did not get the help they needed to manage their pain. One person told us that they felt the staff did not have time for them and did not always let them do the things they wanted.

We looked at records of care given and saw that the staff worked with other professionals to assess, monitor and meet people's personal and health needs.

Although the building looked clean and appropriately maintained in corridors and lounges, we found that some bathrooms, sluices and toilets had not been deep cleaned. Some equipment and flooring had also not been thoroughly cleaned and people may be at risk from cross infection. We saw that hot water pipes and radiators had exposed hot surfaces which may put people at risk.

There are a range of systems for checking the quality of the service. These were comprehensive and had generally identified concerns and problems.

The people who we spoke with told us that they were happy with the care they received.

We carried out this inspection to see if improvements had been made to the way in which medication was managed following an inspection we carried out in October 2011. The manager had been appointed shortly before our inspection and was developing an action plan to improve the service. However, we found that the way in which medicines were managed put people who live at the home at risk.

We saw the staff supporting people to do a range of different things and attending to their needs in a respectful way.

We visited the home for an unannounced inspection in March 2011. At this visit we found that people were not always kept safe, that they did not always receive the care and treatment they needed and that they were not always respected. We have liaised with the manager, senior managers within the organisation and the local authority since this time to make sure improvements were taking place at the home. The organisation created an action plan in response to our last inspection and we saw that they had followed this and made improvements. The local authority told us that they had worked with the manager and staff to support them with these.

When we visited in October 2011 we saw that improvements had been made in many areas. However, people could still not be confident that their medication was safely managed. The checks made by staff to monitor quality and safety were not always thorough enough.