About the service Lancaster Court provides accommodation, personal care and nursing care for up to 65 people. At this inspection 45 people were living at the service.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
CQC had received concerns about how people using the service were being kept safe. This included issues around record keeping, infection control practices, moving and handling and the management not listening to staff concerns. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.
People were protected from the risk of acquiring infections and the service was clean. Personal
protective equipment (PPE) was readily available for staff. However, the most recent delivery of PPE had not been of a good standard. The face masks were loose fitting and constantly fell down. The registered manager advised they had already reported the concern and we can now report this was resolved and the home had masks that were of good quality.
We explored staff knowledge of safeguarding vulnerable adults and reporting concerns to external bodies for investigation. We received mixed feedback. Some staff were very clear about how to report concerns externally if needed but told us that the registered manager took all appropriate action to maintain people’s safety and would involve external professionals as appropriate. However, other staff members did not demonstrate a clear understanding of their responsibility to report any concerns to external agencies in a timely manner. We have made a recommendation for this be reviewed by the provider.
We reviewed numerous documents and records about people’s care and support. These were detailed and completed correctly by the staff team, giving a good overview of the support people received. However, increased detail in some records, such as moving and handling care plans, would better support delivery of safe care. We have made a recommendation that this be reviewed.
During the inspection call bells were answered in a timely manner and staff were knowledgeable about people's needs and how they wanted to be cared for. Inspectors did not observe any moving and handling transfers during the inspection.
Staff received training, supervision and competency assessments to ensure that they had the right skills and knowledge to support people safely. External health professionals were consulted to support people with their care needs where this was necessary such as assessments for equipment. During Covid 19 these assessments were undertaken remotely where possible to help restrict the risk of transmission.
Staff interacted with people in a kind and compassionate manner. However, due to the time of our visit to the home (over the lunch period) we saw limited engagement with people in terms of activities, especially those cared for in bed.
Staff shared mixed views about the management of the home. Staff praised the registered manager for their dedication, compassion and hard work however, some staff reported they did not receive fair treatment.
Rating at last inspection:
The last rating for this service was Good. (Published February 2019)
Why we inspected
We undertook this targeted inspection to follow up on whistle blowing concerns received.
CQC have introduced targeted inspections to follow up on enforcement notices or breaches or to check specific concerns. They do not look at an entire key question, only the part of the key question we are specifically concerned about. Targeted inspections do not change the rating from the previous inspection. This is because they do not assess all areas of a key question.
Please see the safe and well-led section of this full report.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Lancaster Court on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Follow up
The rating for this service remains unchanged. 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.