Archived: Southmoor Lodge Care Home

We received an action plan from the provider telling us the actions they had undertaken to ensure there were enough staff to meet people's needs and ensure that people were cared for in an appropriate manner.

We followed up on both areas of non-compliance identified in the previous inspection. We reviewed the evidence that demonstrated the provider had taken appropriate action to return to compliance.

We visited again on 09 January 2014 to ensure that the increased staffing levels had been implemented and maintained. We found that the increase in staff numbers meant that people were having their needs met.

When we arrived we found four members of staff, one senior and three care support staff. One carer who worked alone on the South Wing told us 'If I need assistance someone comes from the other unit, (known as the West Wing). I do have to wait if they are busy, but so far, it hasn't been a problem.'

Throughout our visit we spoke with eight people who used the service, three relatives of people and eight members of the day staff, including kitchen staff, the deputy manager and the provider. (The manager was on annual leave when we visited.)

A person who used the service told us, 'They (the staff) are always busy. It's hard to find someone a lot of the time.'

A member of day staff on the South Wing, said, 'There are only two of us and if we are hoisting someone we can't answer the buzzers.'

A relative we spoke with said 'The care is very good and the staff are very obliging.' Another relative commented, 'It does upset me when I hear them (another staff member) telling staff off. They shouldn't do that in the home where people can hear.'

We undertook a partial tour of the service, observed people having breakfast and lunch, looked at care files for eight people as well as records of quality audits and complaints. We also looked at the kitchen and stocks of food.

Prior to our visit we reviewed all the information we had received about the home.

We spoke with the registered manager, four members of staff and three people who used the service. We spoke to a relative who was visiting at the time of our inspection and to a visiting hairdresser.

One member of staff told us, "Breakfast can go on until 10.30 on some days. It depends what they want. It's their home after all."

We conducted a tour of the building and saw it was clean, well decorated and was odour free. The registered manager told us," We take great pride in the cleanliness. As you can see and smell. It speaks for itself."

We saw that people had personalised their rooms to their liking and were seen to be taking part in group activities.

A person using the service told us, 'Yes, I like it here. They look after me very well."

We saw that the provider sought and took account of people's views in delivery of the service.