Background to this inspection
Updated
11 March 2022
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.
As part of CQC’s response to care homes with outbreaks of COVID-19, we are conducting reviews to ensure that the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) practice is safe and that services are compliant with IPC measures. This was a targeted inspection looking at the IPC practices the provider has in place. We also asked the provider about any staffing pressures the service was experiencing and whether this was having an impact on the service.
This inspection took place on 22 February 2022 and was announced. We gave the service 24 hours notice of the inspection.
Updated
11 March 2022
About the service
Parklands Lodge is a purpose-built service and provides residential and nursing care to older people, including those living with dementia. The service was supporting 20 people at the time of the inspection.
People’s experience of using the service and what we found
We inspected the service following some concerns about the management of infection control following a recent outbreak of COVID-19 at the home. There had been progress made regarding the concerns raised. We found the service was following good practice guidance regarding the management of COVID-19 and maintaining standards of hygiene and infection control.
People reported good support regarding the management of their medicines and told us they got their medicines on time. The medications records supported best practice although we fed back some minor anomalies to make records clearer. Staff administering medicines were suitably trained and competent.
We found good ongoing checks of the environment helped ensure people were safe.
The home was staffed appropriately at the time of the inspection. Use of regular staff had improved following the recent infectious outbreak where there had been some reliance on agency staff. This helped to maintain a consistency of care for people. People and their relatives told us they felt safe living at Parklands Lodge.
Since the last comprehensive inspection there had been three changes of management. The current manager was providing leadership and was supported by a senior management team. There were a series of quality assurance processes and audits carried out internally and externally by the home manager and senior managers. The new manager for the service had ensured key management systems had been applied in the home although we fed back some improvements to be made to the auditing cycle to further ensure consistency and development of the service.
People's experience of using the service was positive. People received the care and support they needed when required. The feedback we received showed staff were helpful and kind and treated people with dignity and respect.
A relative commented, “Communication has been an issue as there have been a lot of managers; this has improved recently and [manager] is good.” A person we spoke with commented, “I’ve always felt safe; staff are there when I need them.”
Risks associated with people’s care were identified and managed to minimise harm. Supporting care records identified risks and there were plans in place to help keep people safe.
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was Requires improvement (published 10 February 2021). The service remains rated requires improvement. This service has been rated requires improvement since the last comprehensive inspection in July 2019.
Why we inspected
The inspection was prompted due to concerns received about aspects of the overall management of the home including the outcome of a recent audit carried by the local infection control team following an outbreak of COVID-19 at Parklands Lodge. The Commission is aware that the provider disputes the content of the LA/CCG infection control audit.
A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.
The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has remained Requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to coronavirus and other infection outbreaks effectively.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Parklands Lodge on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
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.