Kirkside Lodge

Updated 11 July 2019

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

This inspection was undertaken by one inspector.

Service and service type

Kirkside Lodge is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as 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 had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are 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 the information we received about the service. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as allegations of abuse or serious injuries. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We contacted relevant agencies such as the local authority, safeguarding and local Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager, unit manager, deputy manager, regional manager and five staff. We spoke or spent time with seven people who used the service. We also spoke with a person’s advocate and a visiting health professional.

We reviewed three people's care records, policies and procedures, records relating to the management of the service, incident records, training records and the recruitment records of staff.

After the inspection

We spoke by telephone with one relative. We also obtained feedback from a health professional who regularly visits the service.

Updated 11 July 2019

About the service

Kirkside Lodge is a service for eight people, divided over four apartments and providing support to adults with a learning disability and/ or autism spectrum disorder. The service supports people between the ages of 18 and 65. At the time of the inspection there were eight people using the service.

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

The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence.

People using the service received planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that was appropriate and inclusive for them. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People were happy at the service; they said they enjoyed life and the support they received was good. Staff were kind and caring and had developed positive relationships with people. The service delivered safe care and made sure risks to people’s health and safety were managed well. Systems were in place to ensure people were protected from harm. Staff showed a good understanding of how to protect people from harm. Staffing numbers were sufficient to keep people safe. The provider followed safe recruitment procedures to ensure staff employed were suitable for their role. Medicines were managed safely.

The service delivered effective care, and ensured staff had the skills and knowledge to meet the people’s needs. Staff felt supported and received supervision and appraisals of their performance. The service was well-led. We received positive feedback about the registered manager and management team from people, staff, relatives, representatives and health professionals. Effective quality audit systems were in place. This ensured the care provided was checked and continually improving. The registered manager was aware of their responsibility to report events that occurred within the service to the Care Quality Commission and external agencies.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good. (report published 24 August 2018).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about the management of physical interventions such as restraint. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the Key Questions of Safe and Well-led only.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other Key Questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those Key Questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the Safe and Well-led sections of this report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Kirkside Lodge on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.