We inspected this service on 17 April 2015. The inspection was unannounced. At our previous inspection in March 2014, the service was meeting the regulations that we checked.
Rosemary Lodge provides accommodation and personal care support for up to 32 older people. There were 25 people who used the service at the time of our visit.
The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
People were not always supported by staff to maintain their dignity and privacy and the systems in place to gather people’s feedback required improvement to further develop the service according to people’s preferences.
Staff understood how to protect people from abuse and were responsive to their needs. The staff employed were suitable to support people and sufficient numbers of staff were available to meet people's needs. The provider checked that the premises were well maintained and equipment was regularly serviced. Staff received appropriate training to make sure people’s medicines were stored, administered and disposed of safely.
People were supported in a safe way because the manager had undertaken risk assessments and developed care plans which provided staff with information on how to minimise the identified risks. People had equipment in place when needed, to enable staff to assist them and support them to move, safely.
Staff had a good understanding of people’s needs and abilities and the training and support they received supported them to meet the needs of people they cared for. Staff were kind and caring and people were relaxed and chatted easily with staff.
Risks to people’s nutrition were minimised because staff understood the importance of offering appetising meals that were suitable for people’s individual dietary requirements.
The provider understood their responsibility to comply with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. Staff gained people’s verbal consent before supporting them with any care tasks and promoted people to make decisions.
People knew how to make a complaint if they needed to. They were confident that the manager would listen to them and they were sure their complaint would be fully investigated and action taken if necessary.
The provider’s quality monitoring system included checks of people’s care plans, the premises, equipment and staff’s practice, to make sure people received care and support safely. Accidents, incidents and falls were investigated and actions taken to minimise the risks of a re-occurrence.