The inspection of Dovecote Lodge took place on 21 and 28 November 2017 and was unannounced. At the last inspection in December 2014 the service was rated as good overall.Dovecote Lodge is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.
The service provides a short stay care home facility, which offers accommodation and rehabilitative therapy for up to 28 older people. The service supports people who are waiting for a package of care to be organised or for adaptations to their home to enable them to return home to live independently, often following a stay in hospital.
Dovecote Lodge has two floors with bedrooms on both floors which are accessible by a lift. There were 18 people living in the home on the day we inspected.
There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a 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.
People said they felt safe and we saw staff were aware of individual risks. Risk assessments for individual people were recorded appropriately.
Systems for managing medicines were understood by staff, although some areas of medicines management were in need of improvement, such as recording.
Staff induction, training, supervision and competency checks were in place to support staff in their roles.
People enjoyed the meals at Dovecote Lodge and they had regular opportunities for snacks and drinks, in line with their individual dietary needs.
Staff approach was caring, kind and respectful. Staff made the effort to get to know people, even though for some their stay was short.
Care documentation was focused on risk and people’s care needs, rather than highlighting the individual person in the process of their care.
People were given time to recuperate and convalesce. However, there were limited opportunities for people to engage in skills of daily living in preparation for leaving Dovecote Lodge.
People said they did not have enough to do and they wanted to be better informed about the next steps in their care.
There was clear leadership in the service and all staff understood their roles and responsibilities. The management team was visible and involved in people’s care and people told us the service was well run.
Quality assurance systems and processes were in place, a though these were not always thorough or detailed enough to fully monitor the quality of the service.
We identified two breaches in regulations relating to safe care and treatment and good governance. We have also made a recommendation the provider considers how people can be involved and how meaningful activity can be incorporated into the experiences of people whilst at Dovecote Lodge.
You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.