Archived: Charlton Lodge

The home had a warm, homely and friendly atmosphere.

People's health and well-being was assessed and care provided in a way that suited people's individual needs.

Staff treated people with kindness and respect. Care and support was offered to people in a friendly, cheerful and professional manner. Activities for people were limited but improving.

Staff enjoyed coming to work and felt well trained and supported to do their jobs. They told us "we work as a team" and "it's lovely working here". One relative told us "I am happy with the girls - they have a very good relationship with X". Staff demonstrated that they understood the signs of abuse and how to report any concerns.

Charlton Lodge was very clean and well maintained, with suitable infection control processes in place.

Food offered was varied, nutritious and mainly homemade which people enjoyed.

People knew how to make a complaint and would feel comfortable informing the manager of any concerns they had.

We asked the provider to send CQC an action plan detailing how they would ensure there were sufficient numbers of appropriate staff to meet people’s health and welfare needs. We checked this action plan was implemented by making an unannounced visit to the home. Twenty two older people were residing at the home on the day we visited. We spoke privately with eight people and all the care workers on duty. People told us that staff responded to their needs promptly and there were always staff available when they needed them. One person said, “the staff come quickly when I call day and night.” We checked staffing roster records and discussed actions to maintain staffing levels with the manager. We found that staffing provision had improved and people’s needs were being met.

People we spoke with were very positive about their experiences. Comments included ‘’I cannot speak highly enough of the staff here’’ and ''staff treat us very well’’. However three people said there were not enough staff on duty in the afternoon and evening times. They said ''staff are more rushed than they used to be. They don't have time to sit and talk to you. Sometimes there are no staff around for ages. This makes me feel unsafe. We should have staff here on our unit at all times.''

We heard that during the afternoons there were only three care staff on duty, plus a team leader. We saw that the team leader was busy for up to two hours completing medication rounds. People had limited access or no direct access to staff for up to 10 minute periods, whist staff assisted people in other areas where two were required for safe moving. We found that there were insufficient staff at key times to meet the needs of people living at the home.

We saw that care and support was well planned, with people being involved in the process where possible. We heard that people were asked for their views about the running of the home and systems were in place to ensure that quality and safety were checked and audited.