Langdale House Ltd

Updated 23 December 2023

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 team consisted of 1 inspector, a specialist advisor who was a registered nurse, a regulatory coordinator and an 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 care service.

Service and service type

Langdale House Ltd is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Langdale House Ltd is a care home with nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post. However, there were 2 managers who were in the process of submitting their registered manager application.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and the local integrated care board. We contacted Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.

We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 10 people who used the service and 7 relatives about their experiences of the care provided. We reviewed in part, 12 people’s care records and multiple medicine records.

We spoke with 11 members of staff including care staff, nurse, domestic, maintenance person, clinical manager, manager, operations director, quality and compliance managers and nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We spoke with two visiting external health professionals who visited the service to gather feedback on the care provided.

Following our visit we continued to seek further information related to people’s care records, policies and procedures, staff training, quality monitoring and auditing processes as part of the inspection.

Updated 23 December 2023

Langdale House Ltd is a residential care home providing accommodation for people who require personal and nursing care for up to 31 people. The service provides support to older people, some of whom are living with dementia, people with a physical disability, mental health needs, sensory impairment and younger adults. At the time of our inspection there were 30 people living at the service.

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

People received their prescribed medicines safely and as prescribed. Overall, best practice guidance was followed, where shortfalls were identified the provider took immediate action including lessons learnt.

Risks associated with people’s individual care needs had been assessed and was regularly reviewed. Guidance for staff overall, of how to manage and mitigate risks were detailed. We identified some examples where guidance about how to support people at times of increased anxiety needed to be more detailed. However, staff were knowledgeable about people’s individual care and support needs.

Health and safety risks in relation to fire protection, safe use of equipment and ensuring the environment was safe had been assessed, planned for and was regularly monitored.

There were sufficient staff available to meet people’s individual care needs, and staff had been recruited safely. Staff were found to be well trained, knowledgeable and competent. People and relatives were consistently positive, and highly complimentary about the caring approach of staff.

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.

People were protected as far as possible from the risk of abuse and harm. Staff had completed safeguarding training and clearly understood their role and responsibility to protect people’s safety. The provider had a robust procedure of analysing incidents and completed lessons learnt to reduce further reoccurrence and shared this with staff.

People lived in an environment which welcomed visitors and was well maintained. Infection prevention and control practice minimised the risk to people, staff and visitors.

People and relatives received opportunities to share their experience of the service they received. People reported they felt involved, listened to and respected.

Staff were positive about the support they received and complimentary about working for the provider. Staff were valued and received additional benefits as a recognition for their work.

The management team were responsive throughout the inspection and implemented some immediate changes in response to our feedback. The provider had robust systems in place that monitored quality and safety and had plans to further improve the quality of the service provided.

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 November 2018). The service remains good.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key question not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Langdale House Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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