Lapal House

Updated 22 March 2019

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection team consisted of one adult social care inspector from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and an expert by experience. Our expert by experience had personal experience of caring for, or living with people with care needs, similar to people living at Lapal House and Lodge.

Service and service type:

Lapal House and Lodge is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager at the time of the inspection, who was appropriately registered with the CQC.

Notice of inspection:

The inspection was unannounced. This meant the service did not know we would be visiting on this day.

What we did:

Prior to the inspection we reviewed information and evidence we already held about the home, which had been collected via our ongoing monitoring of care services. This included notifications sent to us by the home. Notifications are changes, events or incidents that the provider is legally obliged to send to us without delay. We also asked for feedback from the local authority and professionals who worked closely with the home.

During the inspection we spoke with the registered manager, six care staff (from both the day and night shift) eight people living at the home and two visiting relatives. We also spoke briefly with one of the providers who visited the home during the inspection.

We reviewed three care plans, three staff personnel files, eight medicine administration records (MAR) and other records about the management of the home, to help inform our inspection judgements about the service.

Updated 22 March 2019

About the service:

Lapal House and Lodge is registered to provide accommodation for up to 41 older people who require personal care. The home is located in the Halesowen area of Birmingham, West Midlands.

Rating at last inspection:

Our last inspection of Lapal House and Lodge was in September 2015. The overall rating at that inspection was ‘Good’, with no regulatory breaches identified.

People’s experience of using this service at this inspection:

We carried out this comprehensive inspection on 25 February 2019. At the time of the inspection there were 37 people living at the home. We found the service had retained its overall ‘Good’ rating. Due to this, the report is written in a shorter format because we found people had continued to receive a good level of care and support since our last comprehensive inspection.

People said they felt safe living at the service, with staff demonstrating a good understanding about how to protect people from the risk of harm.

Staff were recruited safely, with appropriate checks carried out to ensure there were no risks presented to people using the service.

There were enough staff to care for people safely and we saw people’s needs being responded to promptly.

Accidents and incidents were closely monitored, with regular trends analysis carried out to ensure any re-occurring themes could be identified in a timely way.

People’s mental capacity was kept under review and deprivation of liberty safeguards (DoLS) applications were submitted to the local authority as required, although some of these were still awaiting further assessment from the council.

Staff received the necessary training and support to help them in their roles. Staff supervisions and appraisals were carried out and gave staff the opportunity to discuss their work.

People told us they liked the food available and we saw staff supporting people at meal times, if this was something they needed help with. Where people needed modified diets, due to having swallowing difficulties, these were provided.

People living at the home and visiting relatives made positive comments about the care provided at the home. The feedback we received from people we spoke with was that staff were kind and caring towards people.

People said they felt treated with dignity and respect and that staff promoted their independence as required.

Complaints were handled appropriately. Compliments were also maintained about the quality of service provided.

There were a range of activities available for people to participate in, both in and out of the service. Trips out often took place for people to participate in if they wished.

We received positive feedback from everybody we spoke with about management and leadership within the home. Staff said they felt supported and could approach the home manager with any concerns they had about their work.

More information is in detailed findings below.

Why we inspected:

This inspection was carried out to check people who lived at Lapal House and Lodge were still receiving a ‘Good’ level of care and support and to check that regulatory requirements were still being met.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor information and intelligence we receive about the home to ensure good quality care is provided to people. We will return to re-inspect in line with our inspection timescales for ‘Good’ rated services. However, if any further information of concern is received, we may inspect sooner.