The New Lodge Nursing Care Ltd

Updated 30 April 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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection was carried out by one inspector, a Specialist Advisor (the Specialist Advisor had experience working and caring for people who require general nursing care) 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.

Service and service type:

The New Lodge Nursing Care Ltd is a care home, which provides nursing care.

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:

Inspection site visit activity took place on 3 April 2019 and was unannounced. We returned on 4 April 2019 announced.

What we did:

We used the information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

Our planning took into account information we held about the service. This included information about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse; and we looked at issues raised in complaints and how the service responded to them. We obtained information from the local authority commissioners.

We spoke with five people and three family members/visiting friends.

We spoke with the registered manager, a nurse, three members of care staff, an activity co-ordinator, a chef, the registered person and the business development and operations manager. We spoke with two visiting health care professionals and a health care professional via the telephone. The health care professionals were involved with some of the people who used the service.

We looked at the care plans and records of four people. We looked at three staff records, which included their recruitment, induction and on-going monitoring. We looked at staff training matrix. We looked at the minutes of staff meetings and records related to the quality monitoring of the service, which included minutes of meetings involving people using the service and their family members.

Updated 30 April 2019

About the service:

The New Lodge Nursing Care Ltd., 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 New Lodge Nursing Care Ltd., accommodates up to 33 people in one adapted building. At the time of the inspection there were 29 people in residence who had complex health needs.

People’s experience of using this service:

¿ People’s safety was promoted. We found there were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs who had undergone a robust recruitment process. Staff had a clear understanding as to how people’s safety was to be promoted as they had received and continued to receive training and guidance.

¿Staff followed the information within people’s records to reduce potential risk, promoting people’s health and wellbeing. People’s medicines were managed safely, and prescribed medicines were regularly reviewed by a health care professional.

¿ People lived within a clean and well-maintained environment which met their needs. The service was homely and welcoming and provided opportunities for people to socialise, both within the service and the garden. Equipment to promote people’s independence and meet their personal and health care needs was provided.

¿ People’s needs were regularly reviewed with their involvement or that of a family member and changes were acted upon. People had access to a range of health care professional who visited them at the service. Health care professionals stated people’s clinical and health care needs were met.

¿ People’s dietary and nutritional needs were met, which included the provision of specialist diets which met people’s specific health requirements. Meals and foods were homemade and food and drinks were in plentiful supply and were served throughout the day.

¿ People’s rights and choices were promoted on an ongoing basis. Where people were not able to make informed decisions, then decisions were made in their best interest. Family members were consulted about their relative’s health as part of best interest decisions and were involved in the development of care plans.

¿ People were supported by staff who had access to training reflective of people’s needs. People stated recently recruited staff were not always familiar with their needs, however acknowledge they worked alongside experienced staff.

¿ People spoke positively about the caring approach of staff and they confirmed their privacy, dignity and independence was promoted by staff.

¿ People had opportunities to take part in activities within the service, however the management team had identified this to be an area for improvement to promote a holistic approach to care and to improve people’s quality of life. An action plan was in place for how this was to be achieved, which included working with existing external organisations.

¿ People’s needs were met, which included end of life care. The service had attained an end of life award and staff had access to training specific to meet people’s needs.

¿ People’s views and that of their family members were sought through meetings and the sending out of questionnaires, however not everyone was aware of the meetings held.

¿ Staff, people and family members were familiar with members of the management team, and found them to be supportive and approachable and all were confident to raise concerns.

¿ The registered person met their legal obligations, which included The Duty of Candour and the General Data Protection Regulation. The provider shared information with people and family members as required.

¿ The provider had developed its systems to monitor the quality of the service, which included regular auditing in key areas. Action plans to bring about improvement were in place when audits identified areas for improvement. The action plan was monitored by the registered manager and the management team to ensure identified improvements were actioned.

Rating at last inspection:

This is the first inspection of this service since it re-registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on 4 April 2018 as a result of changes made by the provider to the organisations legal entity.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned comprehensive inspection.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.

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