Walton Lodge

We have assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. We found people received care and support in accordance with the principles of this guidance.

Whilst overarching quality and safety systems were in place, these had not been effective in identifying some concerns. We identified breaches in relation to safety and governance. We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.

Governance and auditing within the service although taking place, had failed to identify and address the concerns we found at our site visit. Prior to and following the site visit the provider had undertaken a number of immediate actions to address the concerns and had taken steps to gather feedback from people and strengthen leadership and oversight within the service. These improvements will take time to implement and embed.

Support plans and risk assessments relating to people's health needs were completed but needed more person-centred information to help protect the health and welfare of people who used the service. Further work was underway to ensure support plans contained detailed information to enable people to receive appropriate care and support that was responsive to their needs.

People's medicines were managed safely. People were mostly 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; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. However, staff training and records relating to consent and capacity required improvement.

There were sufficient staff deployed to meet people's needs and wishes. People received person-centred care that promoted people's dignity, privacy and human rights. Staff recognised and responded to changes to individual's needs. We saw staff treated people with kindness and patience and people had access to meaningful activities.