Sobell Lodge - Care Home Physical Disabilities

Updated 10 April 2021

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of CQC’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic we are looking at the preparedness of care homes in relation to infection prevention and control. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection control and prevention measures the provider has in place.

This inspection took place on 25 March 2021 and was announced.

Updated 10 April 2021

About the service: Sobell Lodge – Care Home Physical Disabilities is a residential care home that was providing personal care for up to 21 people with physical disabilities and a range of other complex needs. At the time of the inspection 21 people were using the service. Some of the people had limited verbal communication at the time of the inspection due to their conditions.

People’s experience of using this service:

People were happy and relatives told us their family member was safe. The management were proactive and responsive to anything we found during the inspection to maintain people’s safety. Medicines were managed safely and some risks had been identified with ways to mitigate them. People were protected from potential harm from pressure ulcers because regular checks were completed of specialist equipment and staff understood how to protect people from pressure ulcers. However, guidance for staff did not always reflect staff knowledge and actions being taken. People were protected from the spread of infection and there were regular, thorough health and safety checks including fire safety.

The provider and management had completed a range of audits to identify concerns and issues at the service. When these had identified concerns, action had been taken to resolve them. Additionally, when issues had been by external specialists, action had been taken to rectify them promptly.

People and staff felt there were enough staff and call bells were responded to promptly. Some staff felt weekends were not as well staffed. The management were already aware of this and had previously tried solutions to change this. Staff had received a range of training considered mandatory by the provider. In addition, staff had received a range of specialist training to meet people’s needs. There were occasions competency checks had not been completed as regularly as they should to make sure best practice was still being followed. Actions to resolve this were taken during the inspection.

Some people in the service lacked capacity to make specific decisions and there were systems in place to make them. When people were deprived of their liberty actions had been taken to ensure it was lawful. People were involved in making choices about their day to day care and these were respected by staff.

People had care plans which were personalised and provided a range of information for staff to use to support their needs and wishes. Currently, they were participating in a provider pilot to increase how personalised they were. There were good links with other health and social care professionals including access to onsite physiotherapists. This included developing links with occupational therapy colleges.

People were supported by kind and caring staff who knew them incredibly well. Staff respected people’s privacy and dignity throughout the inspection. People’s religious and cultural differences were respected at all times. Excellent links had been developed with the community. This had led to many regular volunteers and successful fundraising.

More information about the detailed findings can be found below.

Rating at last inspection:

At the last inspection, published on 29 November 2016, this service was rated good.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on previous rating.

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.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk