Acorn Lodge - Croydon

Updated 2 February 2022

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 the COVID-19 pandemic we are looking at how services manage infection control and visiting arrangements. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection prevention and control measures the provider had in place. We also asked the provider about any staffing pressures the service was experiencing and whether this was having an impact on the service.

This inspection took place on 18 January 2022 and was announced. We gave the service 24 hours notice of the inspection.

Updated 2 February 2022

About the service

Acorn Lodge – Croydon is a residential care home which can support up to 39 people in one adapted building. At the time of this inspection, the service was providing personal care to 18 people. This service is located next door to Acorn House – Croydon, a residential care home which is managed by the same provider. As a result, staff often worked across both services.

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

The quality and safety of the service had improved for people since our last inspection. People’s records were now accurate, current and contained detailed information about them and their care and support needs to help staff deliver personalised care. Staff recorded better information about people to help senior staff check for any potential issues with their health and wellbeing.

Improvements had been made to recruitment practices to reduce the risk of people being supported by unsuitable staff. There were enough staff to support people. People said they were safe. Staff knew how to safeguard people from abuse and how to manage identified risks to people to reduce the risk of injury and harm to them. Regular health and safety checks of the premises and equipment were undertaken to make sure they were safe.

Staff followed current practice when providing personal care and when preparing and handling food which reduced hygiene risks. The premises were clean and tidy and free from odours. There were a range of comfortable spaces for people to spend time in. The provider was looking at further ways to personalise people’s bedrooms and make the premises more dementia friendly.

Staff received training to help them meet the range of people’s needs. The provider had identified that staff were not receiving regular supervision. All staff were scheduled to have a supervision meeting following this inspection. However, staff had opportunities to discuss their working practices at monthly team meetings. Senior staff used these meetings to make sure staff were clear about their responsibilities for providing high quality care and support to people.

Staff were more caring and attentive to people. People told us their needs were met by staff. Staff supported people to maintain their dignity, privacy and independence. 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. Activities at the service had improved and people were more stimulated and engaged. The provider was continuing to look at further ways to improve this aspect of the service for people.

Staff supported people stay healthy and well. They helped people to eat and drink enough to meet their needs and to take their prescribed medicines. Extra help was sought for people if they needed this, for example, when they became unwell. Recommendations from healthcare professionals were acted on so that people received the relevant care and support they needed in relation to their healthcare needs.

People were comfortable raising concerns and making complaints when needed. The provider had improved the way complaints were handled to check these were dealt with in an appropriate way. Incidents were fully investigated and the provider kept people involved and informed of the outcome. Learning from investigations was acted on and shared with staff to help them improve the quality and safety of the support they provided. However, some decisions made by the provider in response to events and incidents did not always sufficiently protect the safety and wellbeing of people at the service. The provider was taking action to ensure future decisions would be focussed on keeping people safe from risks at all times.

The provider was now using their governance system effectively to monitor the quality and safety of the service. There were regular audits and checks of key aspects of the service and prompt action was taken to address any issues identified through these checks.

People, relatives and staff were encouraged to give feedback about how the service could further improve. The provider worked with other agencies to make improvements. They acted on recommendations made by others to improve the quality and safety of the service for people.

The service did not have a registered manager in post. The current manager had been in post since December 2018 and intended to apply to CQC to become the registered manager for the service. After this inspection the manager submitted their application which is currently being processed. Notwithstanding this issue, the manager had taken responsibility for ensuring all the necessary actions were taken to meet the breaches of legal requirements found at the last inspection.

Although the provider had acted to make improvements, it was too early to judge whether these could be maintained continuously over time. Many of the positive changes and improvements we found had been made in the months prior to our inspection which meant there was not enough evidence of consistent good practice over time.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 14 February 2019) and there were multiple breaches of regulation. The provider 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.

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.