Lowgate Care Home

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture.

At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment this key question has changed to requires improvement. This meant the management and leadership was inconsistent. Leaders and the culture they created did not always support the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care. The provider was in breach of the legal regulation relating to good governance.

This service scored 62 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The new management team had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities. There had been some issues in the service regarding culture and staff breaking company policies and procedures last year which was dealt with by the provider. This had a huge impact on the staff team as a whole. The new management team were focussed on continuing to improve morale within the staff team.

The new management team had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. They did so with integrity, openness and honesty. This had not always been the case with previous management, but this was dealt with by the provider. One person said, “Things have very much improved in recent weeks and I am confident It's going in the right direction now.”

The new management team fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. People felt confident to speak about anything with staff. Staff felt their views and suggestions were now taken on board.

The provider valued diversity in their workforce. They work towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who work for them. The provider and new management team valued diversity and ensured they followed best practices guidance.

The provider had not established clear systems of accountability and good governance. There was a range of checks and audits in place, but these had not always identified or addressed the issues we had found, especially those in connection with medicines.

There was no registered manager in place at the time of the assessment and had not been since 2 August 2024. The provider had appointed a new manager who was yet to register. The senior management team were reviewing this to ensure an application to register was submitted without further delay.

The statement of purpose for the service needed to be reviewed as it did not include all required information. A statement of purpose is a document which describes what a provider does, where they do it and who they do it for. A small number of legally required notifications had not been reported to the Care Quality Commission but had been reported to the local authority for action. We discussed this with the management team, and they were sent in retrospectively. We are dealing with this outside of this assessment.

The provider understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services worked seamlessly for people. They shared information and learning with partners and collaborated for improvement. Care records were in the process of being fully reviewed to make sure they were up to date and accurate to when sharing details between services.

The new management team focused on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. This included focus on improving the Wi-Fi system in the service which had poor reception due to its rural location. Although currently unsuccessful, the management team have tried to partner with local dentists to work out of the home to improve oral healthcare provision for people.