Oak Lodge Care Home

Updated 8 February 2022

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 how services manage infection control and visiting arrangements. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection prevention and control measures the provider had in place. We also asked the provider about any staffing pressures the service was experiencing and whether this was having an impact on the service.

This inspection took place on 31 January 2022 and was announced. We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection.

Updated 8 February 2022

About the service

Oak Lodge Care Home provides nursing and personal care for up to 41 people. Most of whom are older people. The home is situated on a main road, close to all local amenities and with easy access to public transport. At the time of the inspection there were 38 people living at the home.

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

We found action had been taken to address the breaches found at the last inspection. Governance systems were in place to monitor and review the service provided. The management team and staff worked with other professionals, so people received the care and support they needed. Feedback received from third parties was positive about the management of the home.

The service had introduced an electronic medication management system. Staff responsible for the administration of medicines felt this was more effective and minimised the risk of error. Relevant training and assessments of competency were completed to check staff practice was safe.

We received a mixed response from people and staff about staffing levels. The registered manager was mindful these were to be kept under review to meet the current and changing needs of people. Further recruitment was taking place.

Feedback from people and their relatives was positive about their experiences. From our observations interactions between people and staff were polite and respectful. One relative told us “I would recommend this home because it is excellent all round, I would go in there myself.” This was supported by other comments received.

Staff spoken with felt morale had improved. Newly appointed members of the team said they had been well supported in joining the team, the team worked well together and there was good communication.

Safe systems continue to be maintained in other areas, such as recruitment, health and safety checks and safeguarding people from harm.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published April 2019) and there were two breaches of regulation.

The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service in January 2019. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve medication management and governance systems at the home.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions of safe and well-led which contain those requirements.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Oak Lodge Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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