Oak Lodge

Updated 23 November 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.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of 1 inspector.

Service and service type

Oak Lodge 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. Oak Lodge is a care home without 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 a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

The inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we held about the service including the last inspection report. 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

On the day of our visit we spoke with 5 people who lived at the service, the registered manager, deputy manager and a support worker. We reviewed a range of records. This included 3 people’s care records and multiple medicine records. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including quality monitoring documentation. Following our visit we telephoned 5 relatives and 3 members of staff. We also received documentation on staff recruitment.

Updated 23 November 2023

About the service

Oak Lodge is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care to up to 9 people. The service provides support to people with a learning disability and autism. At the time of our inspection there were 9 people using the service.

People’s experience of the service and what we found:

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessment and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right Support

People living at the service were supported in a safe way by staff who knew their needs well. This included supporting people with their medicines and any health needs they may have. Risks to people’s safety were highlighted and measures were in place to reduce these risks. The environment people lived in was well maintained and the facilities available to people at the service enhanced their day to day lives.

Right Care

People’s independence was promoted. People were encouraged, with the right support, to take ownership of daily living activities. This included helping with cooking, managing their personal care needs and cleaning their own rooms to enhance their independence. There were enough staff to support people to undertake the different activities of their choice.

Right Culture

The staff culture at the service was positive. The registered manager, their deputy and staff put the needs of people at the heart of everything they did. Staff were well supported with regular supervision and meetings; they underwent training to support them in their roles. People had been encouraged and supported to make friends and undertake a range of activities outside the service to enhance their continued independence. All the people we spoke with at the service told us they enjoyed living at Oak Lodge and staff supported them in the way they wanted to be supported.

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.

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 18 September 2018).

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 questions 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 Oak Lodge 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.