The Care Quality Commission

Archived: Lehmann House

Church Terrace, Off Chapel Lane, Wickham Market, Suffolk, IP13 0SG (01728) 746322

Provided and run by:
Suffolk County Council

Important: The provider of this service changed. See new profile

All Inspections

27 September 2012

During a themed inspection looking at Dignity and Nutrition

People told us what it was like to live at this home and described how they were treated by staff and their involvement in making choices about their care. They also told us about the quality and choice of food and drink available. This was because this inspection was part of an inspection programme to assess whether older people living in care homes are treated with dignity and respect and whether their nutritional needs are met.

The inspection team was led by a CQC inspector joined by an "expert by experience" who has had experience of using services and who can provide that perspective and an acting professional.

We spoke with 11 people using the service; however the majority of these people had complex needs which meant they were unable to tell us their experiences. Therefore we used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a specific way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. The SOFI tool allowed us to spend time watching what was going on in a service and helped us to record how people spent their time, the type of support they received and whether they had positive experiences.

Four people told us that they were generally happy with the care and support they received. One person commented, 'I like it here'. One person said, 'I'm happy as long as I can stay in my room'. However, one person commented, 'There's nothing to do here'. One person told us that they felt the staff treated them well, commenting, 'I can't fault them'. They also told us,'The food is OK, there is plenty of it' and 'We always have a choice'.

We found that the service currently had no registered manager in place. On the day of our visit we met with the registered managers from two other local authority homes. They had been asked to oversee the management of the home and to assess where improvements were needed. They were being supported by three senior team leaders. We saw that the attitude of the staff was positive and caring. It was clear from our discussions with people using the service and our observations that staff understood the needs of the people in their care and showed genuine affection towards them. However, we observed that there was a minimal staff presence in each of the four units. This meant that people had to wait for care and support from staff, particularly at meal times. We also observed that there was minimal day to day activity or stimulation in place for people using the service.

20 January and 11 February 2011

During a routine inspection

We viewed the questionnaires dated January 2011, of 22 people living in the home. They told us that they were very happy living in the home and that they felt safe. They stated that all their needs were met, that they were consulted with about the care that they were provided with. They confirmed that they were provided with the opportunity to participate in activities that were of interest to them.

They told us that the staff always treated them with dignity and that their privacy was respected. People were complimentary about the about the staff that worked at the home and the quality of the food that they were provided with.