Archived: Windmill Lodge

Updated 3 March 2025

The assessment was carried out between 2 April to April 18 2025. This assessment was undertaken following concerns in relation to governance and management of Windmill lodge. Windmill Lodge is a ‘care home’. Windmill Lodge is registered to provide nursing and residential care for up to 100 people. People may require support with residential care needs and or/ nursing care needs and may be living with dementia. At the time of the assessment the service was supporting 70 people with their care needs. This assessment has been completed following the Care Quality Commission (CQC) new approach to assessment; Single Assessment Framework (SAF).

At our last assessment we rated the service requires improvement. We reviewed the breaches identified at the last assessment in December 2023 (published March 2024). The provider was previously in breach of legal regulations in relation to privacy and dignity of people and safeguarding people. Improvements were found at this assessment and the provider was no longer in breach of these regulations. We continue to rate the service requires improvement. We found 2 continued breaches in regulation in relation to staff training and quality assurance systems. However, we found at this assessment the settled management team in place, and areas identified for improvement were being addressed.

We have asked the management team for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.

Updated 3 March 2025

People and relatives, we spoke with were happy with the care and support they received at Windmill Lodge. One relative said, “Lovely building and we have excellent care from the staff.” One person said, “Yes its fine the food is good, and the staff are helpful and always here to support.” Relatives we spoke with were aware of the recent changes within the management team and made positive comments, One said, “I am so glad [manager and deputy manage] are in charge it is so much better." Relatives told us if there was any change in people’s care they were contacted straight away.

We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. Observations showed at times people using the service were sometimes withdrawn, this could link with people’s dementia, time of day and lack of engaging interactions. However, staff were kind and patient in their redirection of people who were very driven in relation to their dementia and there was enough staff to support people.