Vale Lodge Residential Home

People were supported to take their medicines as prescribed and other risks to their health and wellbeing were managed safely. The provider had good systems to manage safeguarding concerns, accidents, infection control and environmental safety.

People benefitted from suitably trained, competent and skilled staff. This meant their healthcare and nutritional needs were met. External professionals were complimentary about how the service worked in partnership with them.

Vale Lodge provided a person-centred service. The management team and staff used activity and mental stimulation to reduce people's anxiety and depression and maintain cognitive functioning. This reduced the need for medication because people were settled and occupied. The service had an ethos of involving relatives, many of whom played an active role in supporting their family member and others at Vale Lodge.

Staff were caring and kind and had developed positive and meaningful relationships with people. People were respected, included in decisions and their privacy and independence promoted. The care provided was sensitive to people's diverse needs. The registered manager sought to include them in all aspects of the service, for example training and governance processes. All information was provided in an accessible format, which meant people could make a meaningful contribution to their community.

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; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

The provider's quality assurance systems were effective. The registered manager was well supported by a team of staff with clearly defined roles and responsibilities. There was an open, transparent and positive culture at the service. An 'open and honest' board in a communal area displayed recent audits of accidents and incidents, medication and infection control, as well as the homes values and training programme.

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