Linden Grange

Updated 21 September 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 was planned to check 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.

This comprehensive inspection visit took place on 6 and 7 September 2018 and was unannounced. Opportunity for people, relatives and staff to give us feedback following our visit, was given by us leaving a poster displayed in the home informing them about our inspection. Two inspectors, an assistant inspector and an expert by experience undertook the inspection. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of service.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. We looked at information received from local authority commissioners. Commissioners are people who work to find appropriate care and support services for people and fund the care provided. We also looked at statutory notifications sent to us by the service. A statutory notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send to us by law.

We previously asked for a Provider Information Collection (PIC) and this was sent to us during April 2017. This is information that we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. During our inspection visit, we gave the provider the opportunity to update us with their plans for the service.

We spent time with people and observing communal areas where people interacted with staff. This helped us judge whether people’s needs were appropriately met and to identify if people experienced good standards of care.

During the inspection visit we spoke with 10 people at the service and eight relatives. We spoke with four care staff, the activities co-ordinator, the cook, the trainee deputy manager, the registered manager and provider general manager. We spent time with people and observing communal areas where people interacted with staff. This helped us judge whether people's needs were appropriately met and to identify if people experienced good standards of care.

We reviewed four people’s care plans, daily records and one person’s district nurse healthcare notes. We also reviewed 10 medicine administration records. This was so we could see how their care and support was planned and delivered. We also looked at other records, these included three staff recruitment files, and the provider’s quality assurance audits. This was so we could see how the registered manager and provider assured themselves people received a safe and well led, quality service.

Updated 21 September 2018

We inspected this service on 6 and 7 September 2018 and the inspection was unannounced.

Linden Grange provides accommodation with personal care for up to 35 adults. It is one of three care homes provided by Linden Care Homes Limited. The home has two floors, the ground floor provides accommodation, care and support to up to 23 people and the first floor for up to 12 people. Both floors have communal lounge and dining areas and share enclosed accessible gardens from the ground floor lounge. At the time of this inspection, 30 people lived at the home, some of whom were living with dementia.

A requirement of the services’ registration with us is that they have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons.’ Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. At the time of this inspection the home had a registered manager in post. The manger in post had become registered with us during August 2018.

We last inspected this service on 31 May 2017 and gave an overall rating of Requires Improvement. There were two breaches of the Health and Social Care Regulations, these related to the safety of the service and how well led the service was.

As a part of this inspection, we looked to see whether the provider had made the required improvements. We found they had, and improvements made by the registered manager and provider ensured people received a safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led service. We gave a rating of Good.

The provider had effective systems to monitor the quality of the service people received and made improvements when needed.

Medicines were stored and handled safely. People had their prescribed medicines available to them. People were supported with their medicines by staff who had been trained to administer medicines safely.

There were sufficient trained staff on shift who had been recruited in a safe way so as to ensure people were not placed at risk of abuse, harm or injury.

Risks management plans described the actions for staff needed to take so that risks of harm or injury to people were mitigated.

Staff on shift met people’s individual needs. People felt well cared for by kind and compassionate staff.

Staff received training and used their skills, knowledge and experience to provide safe, effective and responsive care to people.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.