Archived: Lotus Care Home Limited

Updated 12 October 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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.

The inspection took place on 17 August 2018 and it was unannounced. The inspection on 20 August 2018 was announced. The inspection team consisted of a total of three inspectors. Before our inspection, we reviewed information we held about the home. This included notifications and reports provided by the home and the local authority.

There were two people living in the home. We spoke with both of them. However, one of them communicated with us via nods and expressions. We also spoke with the deputy manager, a director of the service who also worked as a care worker and a temporary care worker. The deputy manager informed us that the registered manager had gone abroad at the beginning of the month to visit a sick relative. We observed care and support in communal areas and looked at the medicines cabinet.

We reviewed a range of records about people’s care and how the home was managed. These included the care records for the two people living there, the accident book, complaints book, staff training records. We checked the record of meals provided and the medicines records.

Updated 12 October 2018

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 27 February 2018. We rated the service as “Requires Improvement”. After that inspection we received information of concern in relation to a safeguarding incident. As a result, we undertook a focused unannounced inspection on 17 and 20 August 2018. This report only covers our findings in relation to those topics and requirements we made in the last inspection report. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Lotus Care Home Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk”

Lotus Care Home Limited is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission [CQC] regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. Lotus Care Home Limited is registered to provide personal care and accommodation for a maximum of two people. At this inspection there were two people living in the home with learning disabilities.

At the last inspection in February 2017 we found two breaches of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. The first breach was in respect Regulation16 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 relating to receiving and acting on complaints. The registered provider did not keep a record of several complaints made by a relative together with action taken in response. During this inspection, we found that the provider had still not kept records of several complaints made by a relative together with action taken in response.

Our last inspection also found a breach in respect of Regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 relating to good governance. The registered provider did not have effective quality assurance systems for assessing, monitoring and improving the quality of the service. During this inspection in August 2018, the provider had still not established effective quality assurance systems.

During this inspection in August 2018, some areas were not well maintained and kept clean. There were some gaps in the laminate flooring and an emergency lamp was not in working order. We found that the sides of the cooker and the tops of the fridge freezer had not been fully cleaned.

The recruitment records of a care worker were not available for inspection. We could therefore not verify that this care worker was fit to work with people who used the service. Two care workers had worked excessive hours. There was no documented evidence that they had taken days off during a ten-day period. There were insufficient care workers deployed to meet people's needs.

People who used the service appeared happy and interacted well with care workers. The arrangements for the recording, storage, administration and disposal of medicines were satisfactory.

People’s care needs and potential risks to them were assessed and documented. The regular care worker we spoke with were aware of these risks and people's care needs. People’s healthcare needs were monitored and arrangements had been made with healthcare professionals when required. The service had arrangements for assisting people with their dietary needs. Activities had been provided for people to ensure that they received social and therapeutic stimulation.

Some checks and audits had been carried out. We however, noted several deficiencies which the service had failed to identify and rectify. These included the lack of cleanliness in some areas of the home, care workers working excessive hours, a defective emergency lamp and complaints not recorded in the complaints book. The staff rota preceding the current staff rota been thrown away when they should have been kept to evidence that there was adequate staff deployed to meet the needs of people.

We found four breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what actions we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.