10 March 2021
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Lashbrook House is a care home providing accommodation for up to 46 older people, including people living with dementia in one adapted building. At the time of the inspection there were 27 people living at the home.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Prior to our inspection we received information raising concerns about staff training in relation to safety and their subsequent competence. There were also concerns regarding a lack of risk assessments. Concerns were also raised about the quality of the nursing staff and their knowledge about people. The service has struggled to recruit nurses due to the rural location of the home.
We inspected the home, which included visiting the home and speaking with staff and the manager. We found staff had received training in relation to safety and were competent in keeping people safe. Nurses we spoke to were knowledgeable about people and their individual needs. The manager was actively recruiting nursing staff and had two competent care practitioners who supported nurses with some clinical duties.
We found risks in relation to falls, manual handling, pressure sores, weight loss and choking were assessed and there were risk management plans to guide staff in keeping people safe.
We found people were protected from the risk of acquiring infections and the service was clean. Personal protective equipment was readily available to staff and all staff were following the latest guidance.
We looked at the providers quality assurance systems around accidents and incidents, audits of risk assessments and care plans as well as health and safety processes. These were effective and used to drive improvement.
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was good (Published 24 September 2020).
Why we inspected
We received concerns in relation to staff training in safety, staff knowledge of people’s needs and poor risk management. As a result, we undertook a targeted inspection to review the key questions of safe, effective and well-led only.
We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.
CQC have introduced targeted inspections to check specific concerns. They do not look at an entire key question, only the part of the key question we are specifically concerned about. Targeted inspections do not change the rating from the previous inspection. This is because they do not assess all areas of a key question.
We found no evidence during this inspection to corroborate the concerns we had received before the inspection or to indicate that people were at risk of harm. Please see the safe, effective and well-led sections of this full report.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Lashbrook House on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
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.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk