Autumn Lodge is a large residential home which provides accommodation and support without nursing care for up to 34 older people. All accommodation is located over three floors; all bedrooms are single rooms, many of which have en-suite facilities. There is a large TV room complete with a pool table for residents to enjoy as well as a large day room, large dining room and smaller lounge areas. There is a medium sized garden to the rear of the building and a small car park at the front. The service is based in a residential area of Liverpool and close to local amenities.At the last inspection, 31 July 2014 the service was rated Good.
At this inspection we found the service remained Good and continued to meet all of the essential standards that we assessed.
There was a registered manager for the service at the time of the inspection. A registered manager is person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
The home operated within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). We were provided with information in relation to capacity assessments and processes which needed to be in place to make decisions in a person’s best interest. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
Medication was administered safely by staff who had received the appropriate training. Medication records were accurate, medication audits and competency assessments were conducted on a monthly basis and annual medication reviews were conducted for all people who lived at the home.
All care files contained individual care plans and risk assessments. Care plans were person centred and contained relevant information in relation to a person’s wishes, choices and preferences.
Staff were supported in their roles and completed the necessary training as well as specialist training to effectively support the people in their care.
People were protected from abuse. Safeguarding procedures were in place and staff were aware of how to report any concerns. All staff were able to explain their understanding of what ‘safeguarding’ meant and the actions they would take to safeguard people in their care.
Recruitment was safely and effectively managed. Suitable and sufficient references and disclosure and barring system checks (DBS) were in place for all staff. DBS checks ensure that staff who are employed to care and support people are suitable to work within a health and social care setting.
Staff supported people to make their own decisions with the food and drink during. People enjoyed the food provided and were encouraged to make choices about the different types of food and drink they wished to be purchased. Staff and kitchen staff were also familiar with specialist needs which needed to be supported.
A formal complaints process was in place at the home and people informed us that they knew how to make complaints if they ever needed to. At the time of the inspection there were no on-going complaints being investigated.
The home regularly held ‘resident’ meetings with the people living at the home at which they had the opportunity to discuss different aspects of their care, support and service delivery.
There was a variety of different audit tools and methods used to monitor and assess the quality of the home. These included internal and external audits as well as staff meetings, staff, resident and relative satisfaction surveys and compliance checks.