23 November 2011
The Care Quality Commission has told Southampton City Council that it must take action to improve services at the local authority run Woodside Lodge care home in Maybush.
Inspectors found that the council was failing to meet four of the essential standards of quality and safety covering care and welfare of people, respect for individual rights, staffing, and monitoring of service provision. By law, providers of care services must ensure that they are meeting all the essential standards.
Woodside Lodge provides accommodation and personal care for up to 27 people with dementia.
The report, which is published today by CQC, follows an unannounced inspection of the home in October. Among CQC concerns:
Respecting people’s rights: Inspectors said that staff lacked an understanding of how to work with people with dementia. Concerns were raised regarding the way that staff spoke to people living in the home, and regarding the lack of choice people were given about what they ate at mealtimes. Inspectors found that people were not always treated with dignity and respect.
Staffing: People working at the home felt that staffing levels were too low to allow them to spend quality time with people in their care. Concerns were also raised regarding the levels of agency staffing, and regarding lack of staffing to assist people with their individual needs during breakfast.
Care and welfare of people: Inspectors found that care plans did not include information relating to the involvement of an individual in planning their care. Concerns were also raised as to whether reports were being updated regularly enough, and also into whether information relating to individual needs was specific enough to enable good quality care. Inspectors found that care plans did not ensure people received safe care in a dignified manner which respected their privacy.
Monitoring service provision: Inspectors found that while the home had some systems in place to monitor quality of service, feedback had not been obtained from people currently living at the home or their relatives.
Roxy Boyce, Regional Director of CQC in the South East said:
“When our inspectors visited Woodside Lodge in October, they found that some staff lacked any understanding of how to care for people with dementia. We observed thatpeople were not always treated as individuals and there was a lack of a personalised approach.
“People living in the home were given little choice at mealtimes. The family of one resident had complained about the choice of food, and had been told that a solution could be for the home to order takeaways at extra cost to the person living there. People are entitled to have their rights and choices respected, and there was clear evidence this was not happening at Woodside Lodge.
“We have told the council to provide us with a plan showing how they will comply with the standards. We will continue to monitor Woodside Lodge closely and will return to check that improvements have been made. If we find that Southampton City Council has not made sufficient progress, we will consider further action.”
Ends
For further information please contact the CQC press office on 0207 448 9239 or out of hours on 07917 232143.
Notes to editors
Read the reports
Read the reports from our checks on standards at Woodside Lodge.