The Foundation of Lady Katherine Leveson

Updated 18 March 2021

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.

As part of CQC's response to the coronavirus pandemic we are looking at the preparedness of care homes in relation to infection prevention and control. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection control and prevention measures the provider has in place.

This inspection took place on 04 March 2021 and was announced.

Updated 18 March 2021

About the service

The Foundation of Lady Katherine Leveson is a care home which provides support for up to 31 people in one adapted listed building. At the time of our visit, 25 people were using the service. These are primarily older people, some of whom were living with dementia. Some people stayed at the service for short periods for respite care.

The service can also provide personal care support for people in sheltered housing living in the grounds of the care home. No one was receiving this support at the time of our visit.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Staff were caring in their approach and had good relationships with people. Promoting independence was encouraged, to enable people to improve their daily life skills further.

There were enough staff to ensure people were safe. Where risks associated with people's health and wellbeing had been identified, plans were in place to manage those risks. However, some information recorded in relation to risks was missing, or contradictory. Staff gave us mixed feedback regarding how some risks were managed.

Staff understood their responsibility to safeguard people from harm and knew how to report concerns.

Medicines were stored and administered correctly, and staff had received training in relation to this.

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; systems supported this practice.

People received care which was responsive to their individual needs. Staff knew people well and had a good understanding of how to support them. Care records provided staff with person centred information in relation to people’s backgrounds, interests and individual health needs.

People were supported with a wide range of social activities and events to keep them stimulated.

Staff encouraged people to maintain a balanced diet and understood people’s special dietary needs. The provider and staff team worked with external health professionals to ensure people's health and wellbeing was maintained.

A registered manager was in post. Positive feedback was received in relation to the management of the service. People, relatives and staff had opportunities to feedback about the running of the service. Quality checks were carried out to monitor the service and had identified where some improvements could be made. The provider was moving over to a new electronic care recording system and it was identified that this may have contributed to some of the records being inconsistent.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The service was rated as Outstanding (published 12 July 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.