Archived: Alexandra House and The Lodge

Updated 27 January 2016

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, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 24 November 2015 and was unannounced, and was completed by one inspector. We reviewed the information we held about the service including safeguarding alerts and statutory notifications which related to the service. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law.

During the inspection we spoke with one person who used the service, we were unable to speak with the other people because they had complex needs and were not able verbally to talk with us we therefore, used observation as our main tool to gather evidence of people’s experiences of the service. We also spoke with four care staff and the registered manager.

Following the inspection we made telephone calls to relatives and professionals for feedback about the service. We reviewed four people’s care records, six medication administration records (MAR) and a selection of documents about how the service was managed. These included, staff recruitment files, induction, and training schedules and training plan.

We also looked at the service’s arrangements for the management of medicines, complaints and compliments information, safeguarding alerts and quality monitoring and audit information.

Updated 27 January 2016

Alexandra House and The Lodge provides accommodation and personal care for up to 14 people who have a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder. People who use the service may also have a physical disability. On the day of our inspection there were 6 people living in the home.

The service had a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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 and associate Regulations about how the service is run.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) monitors the operation of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) which apply to care homes. We found the provider was following the MCA code of practice

People were safe because staff supported them to understand how to keep safe and staff knew how to manage risk effectively. There were sufficient numbers of care staff on shift with the correct skills and knowledge to keep people safe. There were appropriate arrangements in place for medicines to be stored and administered safely.

Staff had good relationships with people who used the service and were attentive to their needs. People’s privacy and dignity was respected at all times. People and their relatives were involved in making decisions about their care and support.

Care plans were individual and contained information about how people preferred to communicate and their ability to make decisions.

People were encouraged to take part in activities that they enjoyed, and were supported to keep in contact with family members. When needed, they were supported to see health professionals and referrals were put through to ensure they had the appropriate care and treatment.

Relatives and staff were complimentary about the management of the service. Staff understood their roles and responsibilities in providing safe and good quality care to the people who used the service.

The management team had systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service provided.