2 September 2021
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Lukestone Dementia Nursing Home is a residential home providing personal and nursing care for up to 43 people living with dementia. At the time of the inspection, there were 43 people living at the home. Lukestone Dementia Nursing Home is a large secure building, adapted over three floors, in a residential area of Maidstone.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
There were not always risk assessments in place to give staff the guidance they need to keep people safe. Medicines were not always managed safely as there was a failure to ensure one person received their prescribed medicine for two weeks. Incidents were not always effectively reviewed to prevent a reoccurrence.
Staff told us there was not always enough staff to observe people and ensure their safety and meet their needs. Staff told us they did not have the training they needed to meet people’s needs around emotional distress and dementia.
Management checks and quality assurance systems had failed to identify the concerns we found at inspection and therefore necessary improvements had not been made. People and staff were not always engaged well with the service. Staff concerns were not known by the registered manager. People and their loved ones were not involved with their care planning.
People told us they felt safe and staff knew how to report incidents of avoidable harm. The prevention and control of infection was managed.
People living at Lukestone Dementia Nursing Home told us “it is a nice environment,” “staff are honest and open” and “they are good staff, nice people. I can always have a laugh.” Relative’s commented, “This place seems like a home,” “The staff are absolutely brilliant,” and “I am very happy with this care home.”
It was clear that most staff knew people well. Interactions were kind and supportive and people living at the service and their loved ones praised the care they received.
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 20th June 2018).
Why we inspected
We undertook this focused inspection to follow up on specific concerns which we had received about the service. The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about the management of risk. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well-led section of this full report.
We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.
At this inspection, we have identified breaches in safe in relation to management of risks and learning lessons from incidents and the safe management of medicines. We have identified breaches in well-led in the lack of effective management systems to ensure safe and quality of care and a lack of good record keeping.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
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.