Buxton Lodge Care Home

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

Effective – this means we looked for evidence that people’s care, treatment and support achieved good outcomes and promoted a good quality of life, based on best available evidence.

At our last assessment we rated this key question Good. At this assessment the rating has remained Good.This meant people’s outcomes were consistently good, and people’s feedback confirmed this.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider did not always make sure that medicines and treatments were safe and met people’s needs, capacities and preferences. Staff did not always involve people in planning.

We identified some areas of medicine management and storage were not safe. The balances of medicines classed as controlled drugs were logged amongst 3 different books, meaning it was challenging for staff to keep an accurate record.

Recording of the fridge and room temperatures where medicines were stored were inconsistent. For example, there were no temperatures recorded for the 3, 12, 19 and 20 June 2025. Furthermore, the room medicines were stored in was small and not suitable for use. The newly appointed manager informed us he was aware of this and had made plans to move it to another area of the service.

Other areas of medicine management and administration were safe. Medicine trolleys were well organised, and we observed no gaps in medicine administration record charts (MARs). Authorisations for administering covert medicines were in place and signed off by a GP or pharmacist.

We informed the newly appointed manager and quality manager of the issues we identified with medicines. They informed us these would be resolved immediately.

The provider planned and delivered people’s care and treatment with them, including what was important and mattered to them. They did this in line with legislation and current evidence-based good practice and standards.

The service was meeting the standards of RSRCRC for people who had a learning disability. Care was person-centred and the values of staff aligned with that of the standards by ensuring people using the service lead empowered lives.

Staff used nationally recognised methods to monitor people’s health. For example, staff used The National Early Warning Score (NEWS2). This is a system used to assess the severity of a person’s illness and trigger appropriate escalation of care.

The newly appointed manager told us of his plans to make improvements to how teams worked together in the service. He said, “My plan is to have 2 separate roles for the nurses. 1 to lead the shift, do medicines, speak to GPs etc. And the other nurse to do the governance side and make sure food and fluid charts are done. I also want to create a central team of 1 nurse and 3 to 4 staff around people who will act as a ‘key team’.” This was to add more consistency to people’s care.

The provider supported people to manage their health and wellbeing to maximise their independence, choice and control. Staff supported people to live healthier lives and where possible, reduce their future needs for care and support.

People were supported to maintain their oral care. People confirmed to us that staff supported them to brush their teeth daily. During our assessment, one person had sustained a broken tooth. Staff arranged for a dentist to visit them at the service to treat the issue.

People were encouraged to take part in exercise classes in the communal lounge to promote a healthy lifestyle. We observed staff members adapting exercises to meet every person’s ability and needs. People’s care plans also detailed which exercises should be encouraged. For example, the care plan of one person who had slight mobility issues stated, “Encourage [person] to move his legs and join the group exercise classes.”

The provider routinely monitored people’s care and treatment to continuously improve it. They ensured that outcomes were positive and consistent, and that they met both clinical expectations and the expectations of people themselves.

One person was being supported to return to their home. Staff had worked closely with the person’s mental health team to improve his mental wellbeing. The newly appointed manager told us, “He’s got a big support network in the community. He will gladly speak to us if he needs us. He’ll sometimes take the lead on activities too.” This holistic and multi-agency approach in monitoring and improving the person’s health and wellbeing had led towards a positive outcome for them.

Staff monitored people’s ongoing health needs and escalated these where needed. One staff member told us, "If we see a bruise or a wound, we take a picture and put it on [the provider’s electronic care planning system] and it goes straight to the nurse to deal with. We log it and send it through to them. That is really good, it means the nurses see it straight away and it saves a lot of time."

The provider told people about their rights around consent and respected these when delivering person-centred care and treatment.

Staff understood the importance of gaining people's consent to their care on a day-to-day basis. One staff member told us, "Every personal interaction, you have to record you have got consent. If they don’t give consent, we would record it and go back later." A relative confirmed this, saying, “Staff explain what needs to be done and then say, ‘is that ok?’”

Staff gave an example of how they worked with and encouraged one person who often declined care to receive their support. A staff member said, "We have to give him plenty of time to get ready. He gets anxious; we try to relax him."