3 October 2017
During a routine inspection
This October 2017 inspection also found that there had been a deterioration in the management of people’s medicines that had not been identified by the provider’s quality assurance systems. The service was not reporting safeguarding incidents to the Commission as required by legislation. These issues constituted three further additional breaches of regulations.
Abbeville Lodge provides accommodation and care for up to 20 older people, some of whom may be living with dementia. At the time of this inspection 17 people were living in the home.
There was not a registered manager in post. However, an experienced staff member had been managing the service since June 2017. They had not yet applied for registration with the Commission. 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 felt safe living in the home. Risks to people’s welfare were appropriately planned for and managed. Staff understood about safeguarding and knew what action they would need to take if they had any concerns.
There were enough staff to meet people’s physical needs. It had been identified that some people’s needs were increasing and the provider was increasing staffing levels accordingly.
People felt that staff supporting them were competent and knew their individual needs and preferences. Most staff had received appropriate training and support to carry out their duties effectively. However, there were a few areas where training was out of date for some staff members.
Staff supported people in the least restrictive way possible. Whilst improvements were required in some areas relating to the assessment of people’s mental capacity, there was an improvement on what we had found at our previous inspection in April 2017 in this area.
Staff were kind to people and respected their privacy. Staff enabled people to be as independent as possible. People, and their relatives where appropriate, were actively involved in the planning of their care.
People knew how to complain and were confident that any concerns would be listened to and acted upon appropriately.
The manager promoted an open culture in the home. People, their relatives and staff were invited to take part in discussions about the service.
Other than in relation to medicines administration, the quality assurance system in the service was robust. When shortfalls were identified they were acted upon. The manager had the support of people living in the home and the staff.
Whilst the ratings for the service remain unchanged, the additional breaches we found during this October 2017 inspection are not indicative that the provider is able to make or sustain the improvements necessary.