Elstow Lodge

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

At our last inspection we identified a breach in relation to the governance of the service. At this assessment improvements had been made and the service is no longer in breach of regulations. The manager and deputy manager had supported staff to understand best practice guidance and instil a positive culture at the service. Staff were passionate about supporting people to have the best experience of support possible. The management team had audits in place to monitor and continually improve the quality of the service. People, relatives and the staff team were positive about the manager and felt well supported.

This service scored 46 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The management team had worked with the staff team to help them embrace best practice guidance such as RSRCRC. This had led to staff supporting people in a person centred way and a positive culture at the service. One person said, ‘‘I love it here. There is no where better than here.’’ People were happy and relaxed in their home environment. Relatives comments included, ‘‘[Family member] is well looked after. They always have their favourite things because staff know them so well. They are so happy and settled and we wouldn’t want them to be anywhere else.’’ and, ‘‘I can honestly say [family member] is the happiest they have ever been. They can truly call [service] their home.’’ The staff team were supported to have a shared direction when supporting people. Staff worked well together and shared good practice in handovers and team meetings. The manager and deputy manager had empowered the staff team to lead in areas such as updating care plans, having one to one meetings with people and identifying where people could be supported to achieve their goals or try new things. This had a positive impact for people. One person showed how happy they were when staff communicated with them and supported them to take part in in house activities.

The manager and deputy manager understood their job roles and had worked hard to implement and sustain improvements at the service. They were compassionate and put people at the centre of their decision making. They made sure they were visible at the service and had set up an ‘office’ area which fit seamlessly in to people’s living environment so they were on hand to support people and the staff team at any time. One relative said, ‘‘The new manager has really made a difference already. You can see how much better things have gotten and the staff all seem happy and motivated.’’ The manager and deputy manager had made efforts to include people and their relatives in discussions about the service. One relative said, ‘‘It used to be we only heard from the service if we needed to be told something. Now, we get regular updates just about how [family member] is doing and this has been great.’’ Staff felt well supported by the management team. They were included in meetings and regularly had a chance to discuss ideas and feedback about the service. The deputy manager explained how a large part of their role was helping to ensure staff were well supported. They took the time to support staff to have good days at work and took feedback from them seriously.

People and their relatives were supported to speak up in regular one to one meetings but also informally to the staff and management team whenever they needed to. We observed one person asking staff to support them to understand what would be happening later in the day. Staff supported this person to speak up about how they would like to prepare for this and the person was visibly happy as a result of this support. The manager had put easy read documents in place to support people to know how to speak up and raise concerns. Relatives also felt comfortable to speak up. One relative said, ‘‘We have no need to raise concerns but if we did I know it would be dealt with immediately.’’ Staff felt comfortable speaking up and raising feedback with the manager and deputy manager and were encouraged to do so regularly. They also had access to The manager was able to speak up to the provider about any support they needed.

The provider had fair recruitment processes in place which respected staff equality and diversity. Staff told us they felt well supported by the manager and deputy manager. The management team worked with the staff team to meet their individual equality and diversity needs such as working certain shift patterns if staff needed extra support. One staff member spoke about the positive experience they had during their induction period and how the support from the management team helped them settle in to their new role.

The manager and deputy manager had audits in place to monitor the quality of the service. These covered areas such as medicines, health and safety, care plans and risk assessments, staff training and supervisions and how people were being supported to achieve their goals and access the community. These were effective in identifying areas where the service might be improved. A relative said, ‘‘[Manager] really knows their stuff and is on top of everything.’’ The provider and manager had worked together to implement new systems at the service which supported staff to complete care and medicine records more easily. This had a positive impact as it gave staff more time to spend with people and also made the quality of service provision easier to monitor for the management team. The provider had business continuity plans in place to ensure the service was sustainable.

The management and staff team worked with partners in the community such as health professionals if people needed this support. They also linked and worked with local community partners such as day services and local places of worship. People were supported to go out in to the community regularly and if they chose to do so. When staff supported people to leave the service people visibly showed how happy they were about this. People’s daily care records showed how much people gained from accessing the community and staff also took pictures so people could reminisce and talk about their experiences. One relative said, ‘‘Thanks to the efforts of the staff [family member] lives a full and active life. They are always out and about keeping busy.’’ The manager had a good working relationship with the local authority and had worked with them to make and sustain improvements at the service.

Since our last inspection the manager, provider and staff team had successfully made and sustained improvements in all areas of the service. The manager was open and honest about how some audits were still new and would take more time to be fully embedded at the service. However, these new audits had been effective in identifying where improvements were needed. We were assured the manager and staff team would continue to make improvements as time went on. The manager and deputy manager used the findings from their audits and from audits completed by eternal partners to put service improvement plans in place. They monitored the actions on the improvement plans and ensured they were completed in a timely fashion. A relative said, ‘‘Things just keep getting better and better at the service, It is great to see the progress [family member] has made.’’ The manager stayed up to date with best practice guidance and used this to help drive improvement and innovation at the service. This had a positive impact for people as explained throughout this report.