Valley Lodge Care Home with Nursing

Valley Lodge Care Home with Nursing is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to up to a maximum of 64 people. The service provides support to older and younger adults, people living with dementia and people with physical disabilities. At the time of our inspection there were 58 people using the service. Accommodation is provided in three areas of one adapted building. All areas have a range of communal facilities such as space to eat and socialise and bathrooms and toilets.

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

People liked the ongoing refurbishment of the home and told us the changes were good.

People told us they felt safe and thought there were usually enough staff on duty to meet their needs. We found staff were recruited safely and assessed to be competent to care for people. People received support to have their medicines as prescribed.

Staff supported people to make choices and be independent. People understood who to raise any concerns to and were confident these would be addressed.

People and their families had the opportunity to meet the manager and be involved in a thorough assessment of their health and wellbeing needs prior to admission to the home. Referrals to specialist professionals for advice and support were made in response to people’s needs.

People were supported by kind, caring staff who respected their privacy and dignity. People were involved in planning and reviewing their care and their feedback was listened to. People were able to talk to the registered manager when they wished to and thought the home to be well led.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

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 27 April 2018).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about keeping people safe. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe section of this full report.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

A registered manager was in post and present on the day of the inspection. 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 received care and support from staff that were appropriately trained and competent to meet their individual needs. There were opportunities for additional training specific to the needs of the service, such as diabetes management and the care of people with dementia. The nursing staff were supported to keep their clinical skills up to date and revalidate their registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council. Staff received one-to-one supervision meetings with their line manager.

People’s needs were assessed and their care plans provided staff with clear guidance about how they wanted their individual needs met. Care plans were personalised and contained appropriate risk assessments. They were regularly reviewed and amended as necessary to ensure they reflected people’s changing support needs.

There were policies and procedures in place to guide staff on how to keep people safe from harm.

People were supported with patience, consideration and kindness and their privacy and dignity was respected. People were protected from potential discrimination as staff were aware of and responded effectively to their identified needs, choices and preferences. People’s individual communication needs were assessed and they were supported to communicate effectively with staff.

Thorough staff recruitment procedures were followed and appropriate pre-employment checks had been made.

Systems were in place to ensure medicines were managed safely in accordance with current regulations and guidance. People received medicines when they needed them and as prescribed.

The registered manager worked in cooperation with health and social care professionals to ensure people received appropriate healthcare and treatment in a timely manner. People were able to access health, social and medical care, as required.

People and their relatives confirmed that staff sought permission before offering personal care. Appropriate arrangements were in place to assess whether people were able to consent to their care. Where people lacked capacity to make decisions for themselves the provider took appropriate steps to ensure decisions about care were in people’s best interests and their rights were upheld. The provider was meeting the legal requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DOLS).

People were provided with appropriate food and drink to meet their health needs and were happy with the food they received. People’s nutritional needs were assessed and records were accurately maintained to ensure people were protected from risks associated with eating and drinking. Where risks to people had been identified, these had been appropriately monitored and referrals made to relevant professionals, where necessary.

The provider had systems in place to assess the quality of care provided and make improvements when needed. People knew how to make complaints, and the provider had a process to ensure action was taken where this was needed. People were encouraged and supported to express their views about their care and staffs were responsive to their comments. Satisfaction questionnaires were used to obtain the views of people who lived in the home, their relatives and other stakeholders.