12 July 2021
During a routine inspection
Birkdale Tower Lodge is a residential care home providing personal care to 16 people at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 55 people across three floors.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were not always protected from transmission of COVID-19 because the provider failed to ensure people were consistently tested for COVID-19 in line with Public Health England guidance for care homes.
The provider failed to maintain contemporaneous and complete records about the support they provided for people who lived at the service and when their needs changed.
People were not always supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not always support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service did not support this practice.
We have made a recommendation about improvements needed for the assessment of people's mental capacity.
Medicines were administered to people in a safe way. However, we found shortfalls in record keeping for topical and when required medicine administration.
The providers governance systems had not highlighted the shortfalls we have reported about. The manager had not applied to become registered with CQC and resigned after the inspection. The provider deployed an interim manager and senior staff to ensure immediate improvements were made during and after the inspection process.
People told us staff responded to their requests for support in a timely way. The provider ensured safe levels of suitably trained staff were deployed.
The environment was clean and staff followed safe infection prevention and control systems. Staff were tested in line with COVID-19 guidance. Visiting procedures were robust and in line with current guidance for care homes.
People told us they were supported by kind and compassionate staff. We observed staff engage with people in a caring way. It was clear people and staff had built trusting relationships.
People were encouraged to maintain their independence and contact with family and friends. People told us they could access meaningful activities. We observed people enjoy recreational activities both on an individual and group basis.
People were able to make their own choices at mealtimes. The chef prepared fresh food and understood people’s nutritional needs. People told us the food was “always lovely” and “fresh, beautiful.”
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
This service was registered with us on 11 December 2019 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned 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 COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.
Enforcement
We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.
We have identified two breaches in relation to infection prevention and control, assessing risk, record keeping and governance at this inspection.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow up
We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.