Avon Lodge Care Home

Updated 5 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.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by two Inspectors.

Service and service type

Avon Lodge is a nursing home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered manager

The home had a manager who was registered with the Care Quality Commission. However they had recently left the home. An operations manager was currently managing the home. A new manager had been recruited and were going through pre employment checks. Throughout the report we refer to the operations manager as the manager.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before inspection

Before the inspection we reviewed all of the information available to us, including any information of concern, notifications and the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.

During the inspection

We spoke with the manager, admin assistant, three nurses, three staff and five people who lived at the home. We observed how staff interacted with people. We considered all this information to help us to make a judgement about the home. We looked at a range of records relating to the management of the home. This included recruitment records, people’s care records, infection control practices and quality assurance records.

We continued to review the information we received from the inspection to help us make judgements about the home.

Updated 5 August 2022

Avon Lodge Care Home provides personal and nursing care for up to 62 people. The service is provided in purpose-built accommodation over three floors. At the time of the inspection, 52 people were living at the home.

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

People told us they felt safe. There were safeguarding procedures in place and staff and managers had a clear understanding of these procedures. Risks to people were assessed and staff were aware of the action to take to minimise risks where they had been identified.

Appropriate recruitment checks took place before staff started work and there were enough staff available to meet people's care and support needs. People's medicines were managed safely. There were procedures in place to reduce the risk of infections and COVID- 19.

There were effective systems in place to monitor the quality of care that people received. Staff felt valued and listened to; people and their relatives also confirmed they were engaged with the service and their feedback was sought about the care at the home. The operations manager and staff worked with health and social care providers to drive improvement and to deliver an effective service.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 14 November 2017). At this inspection the service continued to be rated Good.

Why we inspected

We carried out an inspection of the home to check how the home was being managed. This was because the provider had employed several registered managers since the last inspection who had not remained in post. We also followed up on information we had received. This was in relation to infection prevention and control measures and how this was managed.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Avon Lodge Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk