Lodge Group Care UK Limited

Updated 30 November 2023

The inspection

We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.

Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people using the service and staff.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

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 a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we wanted to make sure someone would be available to support us with the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we already held about the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. 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. We looked at notifications we had received from the service. A notification is information about important events, which the provider is required to tell us about by law. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used technology such as video calls to enable us to engage with people using the service and staff, and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation. Inspection activity started on 1 November 2023 and ended on 06 November 2023.

We reviewed a range of records. This included people’s care records, medicine administration records, audits, staff files, staff rotas, incidents/accidents, minutes of meeting and satisfaction surveys. We also looked at records relating to the management of the service and a sample of policies and procedures.

We spoke with 4 people who used the service by telephone to obtain their views of the service. We also contacted 4 members of staff by telephone, to ask them questions about their roles and to confirm information we had received about them during our inspection.

Updated 30 November 2023

About the service

Lodge Group Care UK Limited is a domiciliary care agency and is based in the London Borough of Havering. The service provides personal care to people in their own homes. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection, there were 165 people using the service.

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

People told us they felt safe when staff visited them. Staff understood what abuse was and the actions to take if a person using the service was being abused. Risks to people were identified and care was planned to mitigate the risks. The recruitment procedures were thorough with appropriate checks undertaken before new staff members started working for the service. There were enough staff working to meet people’s needs. People were protected from the risks associated with the spread of infection. 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. Where people did not have the capacity to consent, the staff acted in accordance with legal requirements.

The management team had systems to monitor and improve quality of the service provided. People, relatives, staff and other professionals were encouraged to help improve the service provided to people. The registered manager was aware of when the CQC should be informed of events and incidents that happen within the service. There were regular audits and checks were undertaken to ensure the service was run well. The management team worked with a number of health and social care professionals and this helped to ensure people’s needs were fully met. People were treated equally regardless of their abilities, background, lifestyle, values, beliefs, and their cultures were respected.

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 14 December 2018).

Why we inspected

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

Follow up

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

This was an ‘inspection using remote technology’. This means we did not visit the office location and instead used technology such as electronic file sharing to gather information, and video and phone calls to engage with people using the service as part of this performance review and assessment.