Arden Lodge Residential Care Home for Elder Adults

Updated 9 December 2020

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of CQC’s response to care homes with outbreaks of coronavirus, we are conducting reviews to ensure that the Infection Prevention and Control practice was safe and the service was compliant with IPC measures. This was a targeted inspection looking at the IPC practices the provider has in place.

This inspection took place on 12 November 2020 and was unannounced.

Updated 9 December 2020

About the service: Arden Lodge Residential Care Home for Elder Adults is a residential care home that was providing personal to 36 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection.

People’s experience of using this service:

The staff had an exceptional understanding of people's individual needs and they were fully involved in planning how they engaged with their interests. People were supported to have fun and enjoy a broad range of social activities. The staff were enthusiastic to provide people with personalised experiences that exceeded their expectations. The staff had developed positive relationships with local people and organisations to enhance experiences available to people living at the home.

Staff valued people's differences and responded to each person's individual wishes. People’s diversity was fully recognised and promoted by the staff; people were supported to follow their religious beliefs and to maintain important family relationships. There was a warm, welcoming and very friendly atmosphere.

People’s care needs were identified and assessed and there were risk management plans in place to help keep them from harm and support their independence. People were not restricted due to risk and were supported to try new and different experiences.

People were involved in decisions about their safety and people were confident they were protected from unnecessary harm by staff who knew them well. The staff understood how to recognise signs of abuse and knew how to report their concerns. The registered manager reviewed incidents that occurred in the home and within other services, to determine if lessons could be learnt.

People felt the staff were kind and caring. Positive and caring relationships had been developed between people and the staff. People were treated with dignity and respect by staff who understood the importance of this.

Care plans were developed with people and these were reviewed when their needs changed to ensure it reflected their wishes.

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

There was suitable staffing to meet the support needs of people and the trained staff understood their role and how to support people safely. The staff received support from the registered manager to identify personal development opportunities and to raise any concerns they had.

People were encouraged and supported to eat and drink and there was a varied daily choice of meals. People’s special dietary requirements were met and where concerns were identified, people’s weight was monitored. Health care was accessible for people and appointments were made for regular check-ups as needed.

People and their relatives were encouraged to share their views to support the development of the service and share concerns. People knew how to raise complaints.

The registered manager and staff were committed to delivering a service that focused on providing a personalised service. There were processes in place for people to express their views and opinions. Quality monitoring systems were in place to ensure the service was reviewed and areas for improvement identified. The registered manager worked with other professionals to continue to raise standards in the home and to drive improvement.

Rating at last inspection: Good (Published in May 2016).

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on previous rating of Good.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.

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