We carried out a review of the data available to us about Albion Lodge Retirement Home on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Albion Lodge Retirement Home, you can give feedback on this service.
Albion Lodge is a residential care home providing personal care to 34 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 40 people.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were happy with the standard of care and support they received. There were enough staff to support people's care and safety needs. Risks to people had been identified and care was planned to keep people safe while assisting people to continue with their chosen lifestyles.
People's medicines were managed and administered following guidelines and best practice, so people’s safety was promoted. Staff had received training in infection control and knew how to work to reduce the risk of infection and the home environment was well maintained to meet the needs of people living there.
The provider's recruitment and induction arrangements helped ensure new staff were able to support people. There was a good team spirit amongst the staff team who cared about each other and what mattered to people who lived at the home. Staff were well trained and valued the support provided to assist them in their roles.
Staff supported people to make their own choices and decisions in how they were supported. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
People enjoyed spending time in their rooms and other places in the home including the library and garden area. The registered manager was keen to make continual improvements to the home environment, so it brought people as much enjoyment as possible and furniture continued to meet people’s needs.
People were supported by staff who had positive attitudes towards their caring roles and provided compassionate care. Staff had developed positive relationships with people and were mindful of people’s diverse needs and customs which were respected. People’s independence, dignity and privacy were valued and maintained by staff.
People had been involved in planning their care and were confident to raise any issues they had with the management and staff team. Care planning was personalised to provide staff with guidance about people's likes and dislikes. People were supported emotionally and physically with a range of things to do for fun and interest which included singing and trips to places of interest. People were supported to be comfortable and pain free at the end of their lives.
People, relatives and staff were encouraged to raise issues around quality and safety at regular meetings. The registered manager was supported by the care manager and staff team. There were ongoing quality checking arrangements in place to support the continuation of improvements where required.
The registered manager promoted the visions and values of the service by embedding an open and inclusive culture where people were at the heart of everything.
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 good (published 05 September 2017).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.
People continued to receive care in ways which helped them to remain as safe as possible. Staff understood the risks to people’s safety and offered support and reassurance to people when they wanted this. There was enough staff to care for people and to meet their safety and care needs. People received their prescribed medicines safely, and staff regularly offered pain relief to people and respected their decisions.
The care that people received continued to be effective. Staff had undertaken training which helped them to develop the skills and knowledge needed to care for people. The training staff received was linked to the needs of people who lived at the home.
Staff understood people had the right to make their own decisions and were available to provide reassurance if this was needed. Staff knew which people, relatives and health and social care professionals would need to be involved if people needed support to make key decisions about their lives. People enjoyed their meal time experiences and staff encouraged people to have enough to drink so they remained well. People were supported to access health care services so they would stay well.
People had built strong relationships with the staff supporting them and were confident to make their own day to day decisions. These were respected by staff. People were treated with dignity and staff recognised people’s need for privacy and independence.
People and staff were encouraged to make suggestions about the care provided and their views were acted on. People’s care plans reflected their individual preferences and needs. There were no restrictions on the time people’s relatives could visit them and people told us there were interesting things for them to do, either together or on their own, so their well-being was enhanced. Systems were in place to manage complaints, so the care provided to people would develop further.
People and staff told us the registered manager and senior staff were approachable. A visiting health professional highlighted communication with the senior team was open, and this helped to ensure people received the care they needed. People and staff were positive about the way the home was managed, and were encouraged to let the registered manager know their views on the care provided. Regular checks were in place to assess and monitor the quality and safety of the service.
This inspection took place on 16 June 2015 and was unannounced. Albion Lodge provides accommodation and personal care for up to 36 older people. There were 36 people who were living at the Albion Lodge on the day of our visit. People had their own bedroom with en-suite facilities along with access to four communal bathrooms, with specialist baths. The communal areas of the home consisted of a lounge, dining room, bar area and library area. People had access to formal gardens that surrounded the home.
There was a registered manager in place at the time of our inspection. The registered manager was also the provider of the home. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
People lived in a safe environment as staff knew how to protect people from harm. We found that staff recognised signs of abuse and knew how to report this. Staff made sure risk assessments were in place and took actions to minimise risks without taking away people’s right to make decisions.
There were sufficient staff on duty to meet people’s needs. People told us that staff helped them when they needed assistance. Regular reviews of people’s care and deployment of staff meant staffing levels were reviewed and reflected the needs of people who lived there.
People’s medicines were administered and managed in a safe way. We found that medicines were handled and stored in a safe way.
People received care and support that was in-line with their needs and preferences. Care and support was provided to people with their consent and agreement. Staff understood and recognised the importance of this. We found people were supported to eat a healthy balanced diet and were supported with enough fluids to keep them healthy. We found that people had access to healthcare professionals, such as the dentist and their doctor when they required them and were supported to hospital appointments.
We saw that people were involved in the planning around their care. People’s views and decisions they had made about their care were listened and acted upon. For example support and guidance was provided to the person and their family member to help resolve their concerns around finances. The family member told us that this support had been helpful.
People told us that staff treated them kindly, with dignity and their privacy was respected. For example, people had their own telephone in the room which meant people could call them directly and they could make calls in the privacy of their own room.
We found that people knew how to complain and felt comfortable to do this should they feel they needed to. Where the provider had received complaints, these had been responded to. While there were no patterns to the complaints, learning had been taken from complaints received and actions were put into place to address these.
The provider demonstrated clear leadership. Staff were supported to carry out their roles and responsibilities effectively, which meant that people received care and support in-line with their needs and wishes. We also found that communication had been encouraged between people and staff, which improved the effectiveness and responsiveness of the care provided to people.
We found that the checks the provider completed focused upon the experiences people received. Where areas for improvement were identified, systems were in place to ensure that lessons were learnt and used to improve staff practice.