Lennox House

Updated 9 March 2021

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of one inspector, a specialist advisor, a pharmacist to support with medicines and two Experts by Experience on the first day of the inspection. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Lennox House is a 'care home'. People in care homes receive accommodation or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the CQC. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

Before the inspection we reviewed the information, we held about the home and the service provider. We looked at the notifications we had received for this service. Notifications are information about important events the service is required to send us by law. We also sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service.

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people using the service, and seven relatives. We also spoke with 11 members of staff including, the registered manager, deputy manager, unit manager, and the chef.

We observed interactions between staff and all the people using the service as we wanted to see if the service communicated and supported people in a way that had a positive effect on their wellbeing. We reviewed eight people's personal care records, seven staff record, staff rotas, medicine administration records and other records relating to the management of the service such as health and safety records and training records.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.

Updated 9 March 2021

Lennox House is registered to provide personal care and accommodation for up to 87 people. At the time of this inspection there were 39 people in residence. This is because the home was under an embargo imposed by the local authority, and so had temporarily stopped admitting new people until improvements were made. The home is divided over four floors. At the time of the inspection only the ground and first floors were in use due to major ongoing fire safety remedial work.

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

During our last inspection we found systems and processes to support good governance were not effective. At this inspection we found that significant improvements had been made. The home had worked collaboratively with local partners to develop and strengthen governance systems. There was new leadership that was committed to driving change and improving the quality of care. Whilst improvements had been made, there were still some work in progress to embed the changes.

Additionally, there is ongoing fire safety work to ensure that the unoccupied areas of the building were safe before floors could be opened up for people. Therefore, we have judged that in as much as the home had made progress, there was still some work to be achieved and further embedding of systems and processes.

Improvements had been made to manage risks to people’s safety. There were adequate systems to assess and monitor safety. The home had systems to safeguard people from abuse. Policies were regularly reviewed and were accessible to all staff.

The home learned and made improvements when things went wrong. There was a system for recording and acting on significant events and incidents. Staff understood their duty to raise concerns and report incidents and near misses. The home demonstrated that they had acted on recent safety concerns.

Significant improvements had been made for providing effective care. People’s needs were assessed, and care and treatment were delivered in line with current legislation, standards and evidence-based guidance. The home had improved their systems to ensure all people whose symptoms indicated serious illness were followed up.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests. The policies and systems in the home supported this practice.

Staff treated people with kindness, respect and compassion. They understood and respected the personal, cultural, social and religious needs of people. This ensured the home organised and delivered services to meet people’s needs.

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

Rating at last inspection: The last rating for this service was inadequate (published 25 March 2020).

The home 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.

This home has been in Special Measures since January 2020. During this inspection the provider demonstrated that improvements have been made. The home is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.