Archived: Park Farm Lodge

Updated 2 June 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 21 April 2016 and was unannounced. We carried out this inspection because we had received concerns about the staffing provided. Our inspection team consisted of one inspector and one expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of service.

We checked the information we held about the service and provider. This included the notifications that the provider had sent to us about incidents at the service and information we had received from the public. We used this information to formulate our inspection plan.

On this occasion we did not ask the provider to send us a provider information return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. However we offered the provider the opportunity to share information they felt relevant with us.

We spoke with 11 people who used the service, six visitors, five members of care staff and the registered manager. We spoke with two social care professionals. We did this to gain people’s views about the care and to check that standards of care were being met.

We observed how the staff interacted with people who used the service and we observed care and support in communal areas. Some people had communication difficulties, so we used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a specific way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We looked at five people’s care records to see if their records were accurate and up to date.

Updated 2 June 2016

We inspected this service on 21 April 2016 and this was the first inspection under the new provider. We carried out this inspection as we had received concerns about how staffing was organised to meet people’s assessed needs and we looked to see if the service was safe.

The service had a registered manager. 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.

Park Farm Lodge provides support and nursing care for up to 80 people. The service is divided into two units; one providing dementia nursing care for 40 people and the other for people who required nursing care for 40 people. There were 69 people living in the home on the day of our inspection.

There were not always enough staff available to deliver people’s planned care. People did not always receive the support they needed and had to wait for support with personal care. The provider reviewed the staffing provided but this was not flexible and had not changed when new people moved into the service. Improvements were needed in this area.

There was a homely and relaxed atmosphere and people were generally treated with care and compassion. People told us the staff were kind and treated them respect. People liked the staff who supported them and had developed good relationships with them. People maintained relationships with their families and friends who could visit them at any time.

Staff understood the importance of safeguarding people and their responsibilities to report this. Staff knew how to recognise the signs of potential abuse and knew what to do when safeguarding concerns were raised.

Recruitment procedures made sure new staff were safe to work with people who used the service.