Updated 18 August 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 Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
The inspection was undertaken by one inspector.
Service and service type
Princess Lodge is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or 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.
The service did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. The current manager had applied to become the registered manager at the time of inspection; however, this process had not completed at the time of writing. The manager is acting in the capacity of registered manager at the time of writing. The manager is registered at another home for the provider and will provide support to the deputy manager of Princess Lodge to manage the service approximately two to three days per week. This means that the nominated individual is currently legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection
This inspection was unannounced.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who regularly visit the service. 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. This information helps support our inspections.
We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with seven people who used the service and five relatives about their experience of the care provided. We reviewed complaints, compliments and surveys, which gave us further insight into the quality of people's care and what it was like to live or work at Princess Lodge. We also spoke with five members of staff including the acting manager, the deputy manager, and three care workers.
We also spoke with the provider.
We reviewed a range of records. This included seven people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at five staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures.
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.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. The acting manager sent us additional information including policies, governance meeting notes, health and safety audits as well as general audits. We spoke with one healthcare professional who regularly visits the service and one person’s social worker.