19 October 2022
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Conifer Lodge is a residential care home providing personal care and support for up to 16 adults with mental health needs or associated conditions. At the time of the inspection there were 9 people living at the home.
People's experience of using this service and what we found
People and staff had not always been able to speak up when they had concerns. Governance and auditing arrangements had not identified the service as a closed culture. The provider had made a range of significant recent improvements to address this.
The service had no registered manager at the time of inspection. The provider had recruited a new manager and planned for them to register with CQC.
The interim management team demonstrated a strong understanding of the service and the culture, and had a clear vision for how to improve the culture, which had not always empowered staff.
Risks to people's health and safety were person centred, detailed and informed by updates from external healthcare professionals.
Staff worked hard to ensure people’s needs were met and they felt comfortable and safe.
The provider had reviewed safeguarding and whistleblowing policies and procedures to ensure they were understood. Staff now knew they could raise any concerns they had. The provider had worked well recently with external partners to ensure people’s safety when concerns were raised.
The environment was well maintained and clean. All utilities, safety and fire equipment were regularly checked.
Staff were recruited safely. There were competence assessments and themed supervisions meetings in place to ensure they knew how to keep people and themselves safe. The service relied on agency staff due to recent turnover of staff but had long term plans in place to reduce agency reliance.
Medicines were stored and administered safely, in line with best practice guidance.
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.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was good (published 26 September 2020)
Why we inspected
We undertook a focussed inspection to follow up on specific concerns which we had received about the service. The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about safeguarding and whistleblowing protocols. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.
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.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our reinspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.