Haslington Lodge Care Home

Updated 7 June 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. The Expert by Experience made telephone calls to people who use the service and relatives on 29 April 2022.

Service and service type

Haslington Lodge is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and 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.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post. A new manager was in post who had started the application process to register with CQC.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority who work with the service and the local Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

During our inspection we spoke with four people living at the service and four other people’s relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with eleven members of staff. This included the manager, operations manager, deputy manager, senior carers, carers, domestic staff and an activities co-ordinator.

We reviewed a range of records. This included six people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits, meeting minutes and policies were reviewed.

Updated 7 June 2022

About the service

Haslington Lodge Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care to up to 46 people with varying care needs, including people living with dementia, in one adapted building. At the time of our inspection there were 39 people using the service.

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

People living at Haslington Lodge Care Home told us they felt safe and relatives felt the same way. Staff knew how to keep people safe. People’s records provided guidance to staff on how to manage individual risks. People’s medicines were administered and managed safely. When people had accidents or incidents, these were reported and investigated to enable lessons to be learnt. People had sufficient staff to meet their needs. We were assured by the infection control measure in place.

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 service supported this practice.

People received person centred care by staff who had time to get to know them well. People were helped to join in activities to prevent boredom through the day, this included trips out for those who could go. When people or relatives had a complaint to make, these had been investigated and responded to following the provider’s policy. People who agreed to, had their wishes for the end of their life recorded.

An open culture was evident. We had good feedback from people and their relatives about the manager and staff and the support provided. Staff said the manager was approachable and they were available to listen, and act where needed. Monitoring and auditing systems to check the quality and safety of people’s care were robust. Feedback was sought from people and relatives so the provider could listen and make improvements.

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 requires improvement (published 20 May 2021). No breaches of regulation were found at that inspection.

At our last inspection we recommended the provider review their processes for obtaining feedback from stakeholders to be able to take action to make improvements. At this inspection we found a survey had been undertaken so improvement had been made.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, responsive and well-led only.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good based on the findings of this inspection.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

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

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.