Sycamore Lodge Care Home

Updated 18 November 2021

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 the Care Quality Commission's response to care homes with outbreaks of COVID-19, we are conducting reviews to ensure that the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) 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 19 October 2021 and was unannounced.

Updated 18 November 2021

About the service

Sycamore Lodge is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to older people, people with dementia and younger adults. The service can support up to 45 people in one adapted building. At the time of the inspection 42 people were using the service.

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

People said they felt safe living at the service. Staff were trained to identify and respond to any concerns. Staff were aware of risks to people's safety and wellbeing and acted to reduce risks whilst still promoting people's independence and skills. People received their medicines as prescribed. Infection control was managed well, the environment was clean and well maintained and staff wore appropriate personal protective equipment.

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. People were involved in decisions and their choices respected.

There was a positive culture in the service. People, their relatives and staff felt confident they could speak up and knew they would be listened to. The staff team were motivated and enjoyed their work and were appreciative of the support they received. Systems were in place to check the quality and safety of the service and the provider demonstrated commitment to continual improvement.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the Care Quality Commission's (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 14 November 2017).

Why we inspected

We undertook this announced focused inspection in line with our re inspection programme. The report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions of safe and well-led. The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has not changed and remains good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

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 coronavirus and other infection outbreaks effectively.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Sycamore 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.