Norton Lodge

Updated 9 May 2024

Date of assessment: 16 October to 4 November 2024. Norton Lodge is a residential care home providing personal care to up to 32 people. At the time of the assessment, 30 people were living in Norton Lodge. We undertook this responsive assessment because of emerging risk at the service, and assessed all the quality statements across the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led key questions. We identified 5 breaches of regulations, including safe care and treatment, meeting nutritional and hydration needs, premises and equipment, good governance, and staffing. People’s care and support needs were not always updated or reflective of their needs. Not all risks to people were assessed to ensure steps could be taken to mitigate them. People’s nutritional needs were not consistently recorded, we could not be assured that people were receiving a balanced diet to meet their nutritional needs. We identified there were insufficient domestic staff, resulting in an unclean environment that posed a risk to infection prevention and control. We identified gaps in staffs training records; therefore, we could not be assured that all staff had the skills, experience and training required to support people safely. Governance systems to monitor the quality of care were ineffective. Where issues had been identified, actions had not always been taken to rectify these concerns. The deployment of staff was not effective; we identified times when people were left unsupported in unsafe environments. We observed positive interactions between people living at the service and staff. However, due to staffing demands, the support provided was task focused. In instances where CQC have decided to take civil or criminal enforcement action against a provider, we will publish this information on our website after any representations and/ or appeals have been concluded.

Updated 9 May 2024

People and their relatives gave mixed feedback about the support they received. Whilst people described the staff as “lovely,” and “caring,” concerns were raised regarding their needs being met in a timely manner. One person stated, “If I use the call bell by the time staff arrive its too late.” Another person told us, “Staff do answer call bells however sometimes beeps for a long time but unsure if that’s just when someone doesn’t answer and turn it off.” We spoke with people and their relatives and identified they were not involved in their care plans, which meant care was not always personalised to meet people’s needs. People and their relatives we spoke with informed us that staff were lovely and did their best. One relative told us, “Staff do look rushed, but they do a fantastic job.”