Joseph Lodge

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.

This is the first assessment for this newly registered service. This key question has been rated good. This meant the service was consistently managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality, person-centred care.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider had a shared vision, strategy and culture. The manager and staff shared the provider vision to deliver a service that put people first and provided positive outcomes for them. People told us they felt happy and supported living at the service. One person said, “The manager always tells us this is our home and encourages us to have the things we want.” People and staff told us they felt listened to by the provider and management team. A relative told us, “It is apparent that every member of staff has an immense interest in the residents.”

The provider had inclusive leaders at all levels who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. They did so with integrity, openness and honesty. Since opening, the provider had experienced some difficulties establishing the management team with changes in management. However, they have now established a stable team with experienced managers who were being fully supported by the provider’s senior team. The manager told us they felt very well supported by the provider to drive improvements and develop the service in a direction that will promote positive outcomes for people and staff. The manager was actively working on recruitment and development of staff in post to provide them with the skills they need to provide high quality care to people. Feedback from staff on the provider and management team was positive with staff telling us they had seen improvements and felt valued working at the service.

The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. Staff told us they opportunities to speak up during regular meetings and supervision. The provider and manager were visible in the service and staff told us they felt able to discuss anything with them. The provider told us all staff had their personal phone number should they wish to reach out to them directly. There was a ‘whistle blowing’ policy in place which was discussed with staff to ensure they had the tools to speak up and raise concerns if needed.

The provider valued diversity in their workforce. They worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them. Staff had access to equality training to help them understand diversity, protected characteristics, bullying and harassment. Staff told us they felt they were treated fairly at the service, listened to and all worked well together as a team.

The provider had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. They used these to manage and deliver good quality, sustainable care, treatment and support. They acted on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, and shared this securely with others when appropriate. The provider and manager had good governance structures in place at the service. Audits provided oversight of the running of the service and actions from audits were followed up to drive improvements and deliver positive outcomes for people.

The manager completed statutory notification’s when required and notified partners following safeguarding concerns. The manager worked closely with the local authority to investigate safeguarding concerns to ensure people remained safe.

There were clear systems in place for workforce planning, such as recruitment and development of the workforce with additional staff roles identified and implemented at the service.

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. The service worked well with other healthcare professionals such as the GP service and the local authority. The manager and activities co-ordinator was reaching out to the local community to see if they could implement any partnership working. Such as having local schools come to the service or church groups. The service had organised a summer fete which was open to the local community to attend.

The provider focused on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. There was a learning culture at the service with learning shared from incidents, accidents, safeguarding and complaints, to inform and improve on-going care. Staff were encouraged to develop their skills and attend training courses to enhance their skills. The manager had contacted the local authority homecare team who attend care homes to deliver face to face training with staff. Staff had already benefited from a number of these upskilling sessions. Where staff had been asked to take on additional or new roles this was supported with training. Kitchen staff told us they had completed courses on food and nutrition and safe food handling. Maintenance staff informed us they had been provided with further training to enable them to complete fire checks safely.

During meetings the manager had identified staff to take on additional roles as champions for IPC and end of life and were upskilling staff to enable them to perform these roles effectively.