Forest Lodge Care Home

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

The provider worked effectively with staff and others to meet people’s needs. People were supported to live healthier lives and had access to relevant healthcare professionals. People’s needs were assessed before they started using the service and then reviewed as their needs changed over time. Where people had the capacity to do so, they were able to consent to their case. Where they lacked the capacity, the provider acted appropriately in making best interest decisions on behalf of people.

This service scored 62 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

People’s needs were assessed, the assessments were detailed and up to date. It was not clear how people were involved in contributing to their assessment plans, however, the plans were personalised and based on the preferences of people living in the home.

The Manager told us how needs were assessed on an ongoing basis with a formal review every three months. We heard how this process is supported by a number of health professionals who were involved with the home which helped with this process.

The home carries out an initial assessment process before a person moved into the home. Needs were assessed swiftly, allowing people to move who required immediate support. The process of assessment was continuous, and plans were updated if people’s needs change.

We did not look at Delivering evidence-based care and treatment during this assessment. There is no score yet for this quality statement for Effective.

People and relatives told us they worked well with the service to support people. A relative said, “We had a few meetings about how to care for [person].”

We heard how the home worked with a range of other services that helped meet the needs of the people living in the home. There was a weekly GP service call to the home with more frequent visits for people with acute medical needs. We heard how the home worked with the local authority quality team to monitor the quality of the delivery of care in the home. We also learnt that the home accessed information and training provided by the local authority to further enhance staff skills.

We found the service worked collaboratively with staff and other services. The local authority told us they had worked well with the service to promote improvements and staff told us the management of the service was supportive.

The service worked with other healthcare professionals to support people. We saw evidence of working in partnership with other services such as referrals being made for additional support. Guidance from other professionals had been included in people’s care plans. Management carried out regular staff meetings which provided information around how the team could work together to support people. This information was documented in meeting minutes and cascaded to relevant staff.

People told us that generally their healthcare needs were met. A relative said, “They take care of [person]. They took them to the hospital when they needed to go.” Another relative said, “The GP comes weekly, or whenever it’s needed, which is great.” However, one person told us, “There’s no attempt to improve my physical health. There’s no facilities and I need physiotherapy.”

Staff told us how they supported people from the home to attend hospital appointments and how they were often responsible for advocating on behalf of the person they were supporting when talking to hospital staff.

People were supported to live healthier lives. Records showed that people had access to relevant healthcare professionals, including speech and language therapists and mental health services. There was a 24-hour nursing staff presence in the home and the GP carried out a weekly round. Activities provided included some exercise classes. People were supported to eat a varied and balanced diet, which took into account health conditions such as diabetes. Hospital Passports were in place for people. These included information for hospital staff about how to support the person in the event of them being admitted to hospital.

People told us that outcomes were improved when they raised issues. A relative said, “Overall I am satisfied. Every time I’ve had an issue they have reacted to it. My concerns get heard.”

The home had a range of tools to monitor people’s health. Staff told us about the records they kept which assisted nursing staff and other medical professionals to assess a person’s health status. Nurses carried out frequent observations of people living in the home, who liaised with medical services when concerns arose.

The home had processes to monitor aspects of a person’s wellbeing. We saw records kept detailing comprehensive information about a person’s health which allowed staff to be able to identify when there were changes that would be a cause for concern.

People and relatives told us they were able to consent to care and treatment.

Staff told us how they asked people if they wanted to be supported and the importance of offering people the right to refuse if they did not want support or were not ready. Staff were able to tell us about the many day to day situations that occurred where permission was sought that included people doing things in the home and in their local community.

People were able to consent to their care where they had the capacity to do so. The service carried out mental capacity assessments with people to determine if they had capacity to consent to elements of their care and support. Where it was found they lacked capacity, then best interest decisions were made, for example, in relation to taking medicines and providing support with personal care. This was in line with legislation. We saw posters on display in the service detailing how people could access advocacy services should they want independent support with making decisions.