Archived: Herald Lodge

Since our last visit we have been in regular contact with the service about the progress it was making to improve the quality of care provided to people living in the home. The service had not admitted any new people. Two inspectors visited Herald Lodge on 5 March 2014 to check the progress made.

The registered manager was no longer working at Herald Lodge. Since our last visit, new management had been working to provide support to people living at the home, and to improve the quality of care.

We spoke with nine people living at the home. They told us they were happy living at Herald Lodge and felt safe. One person said, “It’s a good place really, staff are friendly, meals are fine. I think it has improved lately, especially staffing.”

We spoke with five visiting relatives and a visiting healthcare professional. They were all satisfied with the care and support given by the service. One relative said, “I visit a couple of times a week. X always looks well cared for. The staff are very caring and patient.”

We spoke with eight staff. They told us they felt fully supported and had been given the right training to help them with their work. One member of staff told us, “I love it here…all staff are lovely to work with.”

We observed the care provided by staff and looked at the care records. We saw staff being kind and caring to people.

We looked at the administration of medication. We were satisfied medication was being administered safely.

We checked hygiene and infection control measures. We saw the home was clean, tidy, and staff understood what they needed to do to reduce or prevent infection spreading.

Joanne Fogg, one of the registered managers had left the home in April 2013 and had applied to cancel her registration. The other manager was not working on the day we visited.

We were at Herald Lodge from approximately 7am to 4pm. We spoke with 12 staff, five people living in the home, three visitors, and management. We also spent a lot of time observing staff supporting people.

We saw staff supported people with kindness and respect.

Many staff were new or agency staff. We saw insufficient staff to meet the complex needs of some people who lived at Herald Lodge.

We looked at cleanliness and infection prevention measures at Herald Lodge. We found the home to be clean but there were concerns staff were not following infection prevention measures. We saw there was insufficient laundry support and this meant people were not getting their clothes back in a timely way.

We looked at medication. We were made aware there had been problems with the administration of medication. The area manager was rectifying this, but there were still issues that had not been resolved.

Since our visit in April 2013 there had been six safeguarding referrals to the local authority. Three concluded that staff neglected people, and the outcome of two was still being investigated.

Senior management were aware of the problems and were active in addressing them.

We observed people being treated with consideration and respect. We noted staff had a good rapport with people and responded quickly to their needs. We talked to people living at Herald Lodge and their families. All people we spoke with were happy with the care either they or their loved ones were receiving.

We saw people using the quiet room to be with their families, listening to music in one of the lounges, and watching a 1950’s movie in another lounge.

We checked medication, and we were satisfied the service had good systems in place to ensure medication was being administered safely.

We looked at staffing levels. We were satisfied that the service had sufficient staffing to support the needs of people living at Herald Lodge.

We looked at how the service ensured people living at the home were safeguarded from abuse. We were satisfied that staff knew how to respond to potential safeguarding concerns.

We checked and were satisfied the service had systems in place to check and maintain equipment, and to ensure the building was safe. We looked at records kept in the home. Records were up to date and stored safely and securely.

We saw people living at Herald Lodge being treated with dignity and respect, and staff being kind and considerate.

We looked at the premises and found them to be well maintained and designed to meet the needs of people in the home. The furnishings and fittings were of good quality and were 'homely'.

We observed staff supporting people and talked to those living in the home. We saw staff struggling to meet the needs of all the people living there. We were told by three people that they felt there were not always enough staff on duty now there were more people coming to live at the home.

Prior to our visit we had been made aware of concerns about the management of medication. We checked to see if there continued to be problems and found that there were still areas of concern.

We looked at the recruitment of staff, and found the service had undertaken checks to make sure staff they employed were safe to work with people, however we did not see information to inform us that all staff had completed induction training.

We saw that staff had written to Ideal Care Homes managers to raise concerns about issues linked to safeguarding people. Managers had dealt with these internally but had not informed the appropriate external authorities who are responsible for checking on such issues.