Archived: Astbury Lodge Residential Care Home

Updated 22 January 2015

We carried out an unannounced inspection on the 23 July 2014.

The inspection team was made up of an adult social care inspector 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 in this case the care of older people.

Before our inspection the home provided us with a provider information return [PIR] which allowed us to prepare for the inspection.  This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and any improvements they plan to make.  We contacted the local authority commissioning team and they provided us with information about their recent contact with the home.  They told us they had no current concerns about the home. We also reviewed information from the local Healthwatch organisation. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England

During our visit we spent time in all areas of the home, including the lounge and the dining areas; this enabled us to observe how people’s care and support was provided. 

During our inspection we saw how the people who lived in the home were provided with care.  We spoke with 15 people who used the service and three visitors.  We spoke with the home manager and a further 12 staff members.

We looked around the home and grounds as well as checking records.  We looked at a total of six care plans for the people living in the home and used these to track the way that these plans were put into practice.  We looked at other documents including policies and procedures and audit materials.

This report was written during the testing phase of our new approach to regulating adult social care services. After this testing phase, inspection of consent to care and treatment, restraint, and practice under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) was moved from the key question ‘Is the service safe?’ to ‘Is the service effective?’

The ratings for this location were awarded in October 2014. They can be directly compared with any other service we have rated since then, including in relation to consent, restraint, and the MCA under the ‘Effective’ section. Our written findings in relation to these topics, however, can be read in the ‘Is the service safe’ sections of this report.

Updated 22 January 2015

The inspection was unannounced and took place on the 23 July 2014.

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 was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and to pilot a new inspection process being introduced by CQC which looks at the overall quality of the service. 

The last inspection took place on the 27 September 2013 when it was found to be meeting all the regulatory requirements looked at and which applied to this kind of home.

A registered manager was in post.  A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service and has the legal responsibility for meeting the requirements of the law; as does the provider.

Astbury Lodge Residential Care Home is a two-storey service that provides care for up to 41 older people including two 10 bedded households for people with dementia.  The home is close to the local shops and other community facilities.  On the day of our visit there were 41 people living in the home.

All the people we spoke to told us that they felt safe at Astbury Lodge Care Home. Comments included; “Very good here” and “It is fine”.  Relatives that we spoke with told us they felt the service was safe and they had no concerns.  Comments included; “We feel that [our relative] is safe”.  The service had a range of policies and procedures which helped staff refer to good practice and included guidance on the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS).

People told us they were happy with the care and support they received and felt their needs were being met.

The relationships we saw were warm, respectful, dignified and with plenty of smiles and laughter.  Everyone in the service looked relaxed and comfortable with the staff. 

We saw that the on-going review of the risk assessments and care plans led to referrals to other services such as tissue viability and hospital visits in order to ensure people received the most appropriate care.

Staff members we spoke with said that the registered manager was very approachable.  Throughout the inspection, we observed staff interacting with each other in a professional manner.   The service had a robust quality assurance system in place with various checks and audit tools to show consistent good practices within the service.