South Lodge Care Home

Updated 31 August 2022

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by two inspectors.

Service and service type

South Lodge Care Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. South Lodge Care Home is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

During the inspection we spoke with five people who were living at the service, and two relatives of people living at the service. We also spoke with six care staff, the chef, the deputy manager and the regional manager.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

During the inspection we spoke with five people who were living at the service, and two relatives of people living at the service. We also spoke with six care staff, the chef, the deputy manager and the regional manager.

Updated 31 August 2022

South Lodge Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care to up to 106 people. The service provides support to older people, some of whom live with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 75 people using the service.

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

People and their relatives felt the service was safe, and people were cared for by staff who understood safeguarding procedures. There were enough staff working within the service to keep people safe.

Risks present within people’s lives had been assessed and reviewed. Staff working with people understood how to manage risk. Medicines were administered by trained staff, in a safe manner.

Environmental risk was assessed, and the premises were clean and well maintained. Staff followed infection prevention control measures to ensure the risk of infection was managed. Lessons were learned through analysis of any incidents or accidents.

There was a registered manager in place and a management team who supported their staff. Staff and people all felt the service was well run.

Audits and checks were in place to ensure prompt action was taken when any problems were found. Staff and people were able to feedback and have their voices heard.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

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 requires improvement (published 18 May 2019).

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services which have had a recent Direct Monitoring Approach (DMA) assessment, where no further action was needed to seek assurance about this decision and to identify learning about the DMA process.

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.

We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

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 has changed from Requires Improvement to Good based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for South Lodge Care Home 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.