About the service Aspen Lodge Residential Care Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care in one building to 10 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 25 people.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The providers systems and policy for protecting people from potential abuse had not been consistently followed. Governance arrangements had not identified this and some incidents which should have been reported to an outside body for investigation had not been. The provider had not consistently notified CQC about incidents as required by law.
People told us they felt safe living at the home. People had risks to their safety assessed and plans put in place to mitigate the risks. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs, and the provider was ensuring staff followed all government guidance for infection prevention control. When accidents occurred, there were systems in place to ensure peoples care plans were reviewed and learning was shared to prevent reoccurrence.
People had their needs assessed and care plans were reviewed. Staff received an induction and the registered manager was arranging for eLearning courses to update staff training. People received consistent care and the provider had made improvements to the environment to meet people’s needs.
People’s health needs were understood by staff and there were referrals to health professionals when people needed support. People had a choice of meals and drinks and their needs assessed for support and where required monitoring was in place.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 13 March 2020). The service remains rated requires improvement. This service has been rated requires improvement for the last two consecutive inspections.
Why we inspected
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 coronavirus and other infection outbreaks effectively.
We received concerns in relation to how the service managed risks to people’s safety. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, effective and well-led only.
We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.
The overall rating for the service has remained requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection. We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvement. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.
You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Aspen Lodge Residential Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
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 breaches of the legal regulations in relation safeguarding people from abuse and governance arrangements for the service.
Follow up
We will meet with the provider and request an action plan for 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.