Lime Tree House

Updated 19 March 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team: One inspector conducted the inspection over one day.

Service and service type: Lime Tree House is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection: This inspection was unannounced.

What we did when preparing for and carrying out this inspection:

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about. We contacted the local authority and the Clinical Commissioning Group who commission services from the provider and they provided us with feedback. We assessed the information we require providers to send us at least once annually 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 four people who used the service and two people’s relatives to ask about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with two nurses and two care staff. We spent time with the registered manager during the inspection. We reviewed a range of records. This included accident and incident records, three people's care records and medicine records. We also looked at two staff recruitment files.

We asked the registered manager to email audits to us, so that we could see how the provider monitored the service to drive improvements. We reviewed this information as part of the inspection process.

Updated 19 March 2019

About the service: Lime Tree House is registered for 10 beds and provides nursing care and accommodation for people with a learning disability and /or mental health needs. On the day of our visit 9 people were living at the home.

People’s experience of using this service:

People were protected from the risk of harm by staff who understood their responsibilities to safeguard people. The risk of people acquiring an infection, was minimised by the infection control procedures in place. Risks were assessed and managed and people were supported to lead full lives by taking reasonable risks. People were supported to take their medicines in a safe way. Recruitment checks were undertaken, to determine the suitability of new staff and protect people that used the service.

People were supported to make decisions about what they ate, to ensure the meals met their preferences and dietary needs. Drinks were available to people throughout the day. Where people were unable to independently make specific decisions regarding their care; assessments were undertaken to determine the support they needed with these decisions. This ensured people were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and were supported in the least restrictive way possible. People and their representatives were involved in their care to enable them to receive support in their preferred way. People had access to healthcare services and received coordinated support, to ensure their preferences and needs were met.

People were supported to take part in social activities of their choice, both in and out of the home to enhance their well-being. Information was available in an accessible format to support people’s understanding. People maintained relationships with their family and friends and were encouraged to give their views about the service. This included raising any concerns they had. There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service and drive improvement.

More information is in the full report below.

Rating at last inspection: Requires Improvement (report published 7 September 2017).

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection. At this inspection we saw that improvements have been made.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.