Archived: Ado Lodge

Ado Lodge is a care home service without nursing, which provides personal care and accommodation for up to four younger adults with learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder.

There were three people using the service at the time of this inspection.

The service had a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with 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.

Although there was a registered manager in post they were currently absent from the service. The provider had put in interim management arrangements. The home also employed a home manager. This role was intended to have a lead role in day to day management within the home.

Experienced staff were not always deployed in sufficient numbers to keep people safe.

People were not fully protected from the risk of avoidable harm and abuse that may breach their human rights because staff did not always receive appropriate training in a timely manner.

The system for checking staff’s suitability for their role before they started working at the home was not robust.

Medicines were not all stored, administered and managed safely.

People were not always supported by staff who had received appropriate training, professional development and supervision to enable them to meet people’s individual needs. There were not always enough qualified and experienced staff to respond to and meet people’s needs.

A regular team of staff had developed positive caring relationships with people, knew people well and respected their privacy and dignity.

People's care needs had not been reassessed regularly and this had put them at risk of inconsistent care or not receiving the care and support they needed.

The systems used for recording people’s care and support had changed frequently and had not supported staff to provide individualised or person centred care.

The complaints system was unclear and had been managed inconsistently.

Management systems were not effective in ensuring the quality and safety of the service. Incident reporting systems were not robust.

The registered manager had not promoted a positive, open and inclusive culture at the service. Staff did not receive appropriate support and did not feel well informed.

Services that provide health and social care to people are required to inform the Care Quality Commission (CQC) of important events that happen in relation to the service. The provider had not informed the CQC of a number of significant events.

We found a number of breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 and one breach under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Registration) Regulations 2009.

We looked at the care and support records for one person who used the service and found that an assessment of their needs and care plans, including risk assessments were in place.

During our visit we inspected the storage and records of medicines held in the home. We saw that all medicines were stored in a locked cabinet. This meant that medicines were kept safely.

Appropriate checks were undertaken before care workers began work. We saw evidence that staff were subject to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.

Care records including medical appointments were documented and provided accurate information that reflected people's needs.