Forest Lodge Care Home

On this page

• Overview
• Person-centred Care
• Care provision, Integration and continuity
• Providing Information
• Listening to and involving people
• Equity in access
• Equity in experiences and outcomes
• Planning for the future

Responsive – this means we looked for evidence that the provider met people’s needs.

At our last assessment we rated this key question was good. At this assessment the rating has remained good. This meant people’s needs were met through good organisation and delivery.

This service scored 71 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The service ensured that the care was focussed, and that the person was central to their support. Information about people was respectful and written in a way that promoted people’s rights. People were encouraged to be themselves and received aspects of their care and support where they wanted. An example of this was during mealtimes when people were given the choice to eat where they wanted to and where it was safe to support them. Some people ate in the dining area whist others were supported to have their meals in bed. We were told that people were involved in a wide range of activities but the organisations recording system did not reflect this accurately, a point we discussed with the provider as part of our feedback who told us that people were engaged in activities and agreed that records needed to reflect that more accurately.

The provider understood the diverse health and care needs of people and their local communities, so care was joined-up, flexible and supported choice and continuity. The provider worked with other providers of health services, in particular hospitals to ensure people did not remain in hospitals for unnecessary periods of time and were able to return to the service where they were able to be cared for by staff.

The provider did not always supply appropriate information in formats that were tailored to individual needs. We saw information in hallways, not always in formats that people could see or understand. We saw a board on the first floor detailing activities but this was hand written, small and above a chair making it difficult to see. We asked the provider to send information they had about the services they provided aimed at people to give them an understanding of the support they would receive. The information sent to us was in a format aimed at professionals interested in placing people in the service and of the therapeutic services provided.

The provider made it easy for people to share feedback and ideas, or raise complaints about their care, treatment and support. We saw a complaints process that was robust in the way it dealt with complaints, and the manager was clear about the timescales for complaints to be addressed. The provider was open and willing to listen to people as a way of taking on board ideas and improving the quality of the service they provided.

The provider made sure that people could access the care, support and treatment they needed when they needed it. People accessed a range of different services depending upon need. The provider was able to get services such as chiropody to visit if people could not go out to them. Families told us that people were supported well in order to meet health needs, one family told us, “It is not easy, sometimes [person] does not want to go but the staff try hard to get them to the appointment and if they can’t, they let me know.”

Staff and leaders actively listened to information about people who are most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes and tailored their care. The wide range of training meant that the provider was able to cater for people with a variety of different care and support needs.

People were supported to do the things they wanted to do and there was a focus on maintaining skills people had so that they did not lose their independence.

People were supported to plan for important life changes, so they could have enough time to make informed decisions about their future, including at the end of their life. People had end of life plans in place with detail about people’s wishes around the support they wanted when they die.