Shepherds Lodge Residential Home

Updated 26 April 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.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

Shepherds Lodge Residential Home 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. Shepherds Lodge Residential Home 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

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 available to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 16 March 2023 and ended on 31 March 2023. We visited the service on 16 March 2023. We contacted a staff member after our visit to gather their views.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. Due to technical problems, the provider was not able to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR). A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 4 people who lived in the home, the registered manager and 2 members of the care team. We looked around the home and observed how staff interacted with people. We contacted a staff member to gather their views.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 3 people’s care and medication records. We looked at the recruitment records for one staff member and training records for 2 members of staff. We also looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service.

Updated 26 April 2023

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 assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

About the service

Shepherds Lodge Residential Home provides accommodation and personal care to up to 6 people who have a learning disability and/or autism or mental health needs. There were 4 people living in the home when we inspected. Accommodation is provided in single bedrooms over two floors. There are four bedrooms on the first floor of the home and two bedrooms on the ground floor of the property. The home has a range of communal areas that people share.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Right Support:

People had a fulfilling and meaningful everyday life because staff focused on their strengths and promoted what they could do. The registered manager and staff understood the importance of supporting people to gain skills and independence.

Staff supported people to follow their interests in the home and in the community. People were supported to be active members of their community. Staff adapted how they supported people to follow activities as their needs and interests changed.

People’s access to activities had been restricted during the COVID-19 pandemic. As restrictions were eased following the pandemic, the registered manager had advocated for people to be able to return to activities they enjoyed.

People had a choice about their living environment and were able to personalise their rooms. The service gave people care and support in a safe, clean, comfortable and homely environment that met their sensory and physical needs.

Staff enabled people to access routine and specialist health and social care support to ensure their health and wellbeing. They gave people the support they needed to take their medicines and maintain their health.

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. Staff supported people to make decisions following best practice in decision-making. They communicated with people in ways that met their needs.

Right Care:

People received kind and compassionate care. Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They knew people well and understood and responded to their individual needs.

People were safe and protected from abuse. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it.

The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. People liked the staff who supported them.

People could communicate with staff and understand information given to them because staff supported them consistently and understood their individual communication needs. People who had individual ways of communicating could interact comfortably with staff because staff had the experience and skills to understand them.

People’s care and support plans reflected their range of needs. Staff knew people very well and knew the support they needed. People’s wellbeing was promoted because staff knew what was important to them.

Staff and people cooperated to assess risks people might face. Where appropriate, staff encouraged and enabled people to take positive risks.

Right Culture:

People led inclusive and empowered lives because of the ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of the management and staff. Staff ensured risks of a closed culture were minimised so that people received support based on transparency, respect and inclusivity.

People were supported by staff who understood best practice in relation to the wide range of strengths, impairments or sensitivities people with a learning disability and/or autistic people may have. This meant people received compassionate and empowering care that was tailored to their needs.

People, and those important to them, were involved in planning their care. Staff knew how to give people choices about their lives and respected the decisions they made.

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 12 October 2017).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

The rating for the service had not been reviewed since the inspection in 2017. We undertook a focused inspection to check people continued to receive safe and high-quality care. We reviewed 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.

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.

The overall rating for the service has remained good based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Shepherds Lodge Residential Home 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.