Archived: Whitefarm Lodge

White Farm Lodge is a care home providing personal and nursing care for up to 60 older people, some of whom are living with dementia. At the time of the inspection 48 people were receiving a service at the home.

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

The service provided was safe for people to use and staff to work in. People said that staff always did their best to meet their care needs and they liked and felt safe with the way support was provided. Risks to people were assessed, monitored and reviewed. This enabled them to take acceptable risks, enjoy their lives and live safely. Accidents, incidents and safeguarding concerns were reported, investigated and recorded. There were suitable numbers of appropriately recruited staff to meet people’s needs. Medicines were safely administered by trained staff.

The service culture was open, honest and there was a clearly defined vision and values that staff we spoke with understood and followed in a caring, kind and sympathetic way. The quality assurance systems (QA) and audits identified issues, and they were addressed. Areas of responsibility and accountability were identified, with staff willing to take responsibility and report any concerns. There were well-established working partnerships with health care professionals. Records including people’s daily logs and care plans were up to date, as well as staff information. People praised the caring approach of the registered manager and 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 16 December 2017).

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection to check whether the service was continuing to provide a good rated service to people.

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 COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

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

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Whitefarm Lodge on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

We found the following examples of good practice.

There were robust and effective measures to prevent and minimise the risk to people, staff and those that visited from catching or spreading COVID-19.

We observed, staff and managers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) appropriately. Staff were provided with up to date infection prevention and control (IPC) and COVID-19 training, that was frequently refreshed. Adequate supplies of PPE were available that met current demand and foreseeable outbreaks.

Staff followed IPC and PPE regularly updated policies and procedures, that reflected ongoing changes to COVID-19 related guidance. These included contingency plans for managing adverse events, such as COVID-19 outbreaks and staff shortages. The registered manager carried out walkabout tours of the care home to make sure staff were using PPE properly and following guidance.

Although access to the care home was restricted, due to an outbreak, designated people such as essential care givers and relatives and friends of those approaching end of life could visit in line with Government COVID-19 care home guidelines. All visitors to the care home were required to follow the home’s IPC guidance.

Alternative communication arrangements were in place so that people could maintain relationships with relatives and friends. Staff actively supported people to keep in touch with those who could not visit the care home by telephone and using teams and zoom calls.

The care home could not currently accept new referrals or people returning home due to a Covid-19 outbreak. Under normal circumstances new admissions or people returning after a hospital stay were required to have a negative COVID-19 test and self-isolate for a minimum 10 days to reduce the risk of the virus spreading.

The care home followed a ‘whole home’ COVID-19 testing program. This ensured people living, working or visiting the care home were regularly tested for COVID-19. The provider knew how to order COVID-19 home testing kits and where to get them.

The care home was clean, hygienic, and detailed records were kept of staff cleaning schedules. This included continuously cleaning high touch surfaces, such as light switches, grab rails and door handles as part of a rolling programme.

The care home carried out thorough infection risk assessments for everyone living, visiting and working there. If people were deemed to be disproportionately at risk from COVID-19, appropriate action was taken to reduce the impact. Staff with underlying health care conditions or other restricting factors, did not work on floors where people who had tested positive for COVID-19 had been or were self-isolating.

The provider had minimised the number of agency and bank staff they used to those that had previous experience of the home to reduce the risk of spreading infection.

The provider's IPC policy was up to date. The last update took place on 18 January 2022.

White Farm Lodge is a care home providing care and support for up to 60 older people, who may have dementia. The service is located in the Hampton area of west London.

The 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

At the last inspection in November 2015 all the key questions of safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led were rated good and there was an overall rating of good.

People, their relatives and staff said that the home was a nice safe place to live and work in. Staff respectfully delivered good care and support in a way that people enjoyed and enabled people to do the things they wanted to and join in the activities provided if they wished.

The home provided a warm and friendly atmosphere with visitors made welcome. The home was well-maintained and clean.

People’s and the home’s records were kept up to date with clearly recorded, fully completed, and regularly reviewed information. This enabled staff to perform their duties appropriately.

Staff knew the people they provided a service for well and this included their likes, dislikes, routines and preferences. During our visit people received the same attentive service and everyone was treated equally with staff performing their duties in a kind and caring way. Staff had appropriate skills, qualifications and were focussed on providing individualised care and support in a professional, friendly and compassionate manner. Whilst being professional they made themselves accessible to people and their relatives in a friendly, approachable way.

Staff said they had access to good training, support and career advancement.

People were protected from nutrition and hydration associated risks with balanced diets that also met their likes, dislikes and preferences. They said the choice of meals and quality of the food provided was very good. People were encouraged to discuss health needs with staff and had access to community based health care professionals, if they required them. People were prompted to eat their meals and drink at their own pace.

The home’s management team was approachable, responsive, encouraged feedback from people and their relatives and consistently monitored and assessed the quality of the service provided.

People told us "the staff are very good", "they come when I call", "staff respect my privacy and dignity", "I couldn't be better looked after" and "I'm very happy living here". Comments about the food were positive and included "the food is very good", "we get plenty of choice" and "always enough to eat". Some people said that they had enough to do during the day. People said the home was kept clean.

Visitors said "staff are welcoming", "staff are kind and considerate", "staff know people and how to meet their needs and they said that there were enough staff working at the home to meet people's needs. One person told us that they would raise concerns and complaints with the manager saying "he will listen to my point and I would most definitely be taken seriously".

Staff were happy to be working at Whitefarm Lodge. They said one of the things the service did well was provided good care and support to people. Staff said that they had the training and support they needed to do their job and felt that there were enough staff to meet the needs of the people living there.

We saw some good interactions between staff and people who use the service. Staff generally talked to people about what they were doing, giving them choices and checking they were satisfied with the care or support being provided.

We spoke with three people who use the service and six members of staff. We saw most people were in bed asleep in their night attire at the time of our visit. Two people who were awake said "I get up early and have done for years" and "I wake early but stay in bed and staff bring me a drink and breakfast later". They confirmed that they went to bed and got up at times of their choice. Night staff said they checked people during the night and made people comfortable when required. They told us the day staff generally supported people to get up and dressed after 7.30am.