Lona Lodge

People received personalised care and support according to their needs and wishes. This was particularly effective in supporting people to achieve their goals and outcomes as it also helped people to be more confident in developing the skills they needed to achieve more independent living.

The provider created the right culture where their staff could develop and provided the right training and support to make sure they could fulfil their roles appropriately. One staff commented, "I just think they are an inspirational company who really believe in all the things they are doing. It's significant work and they genuinely care about people and all their employees. They never stop trying to improve."

The service was flexible and adapted to people's changing needs and wishes and promoted their independence. Care was person centred and risk assessments were in place. Risk management plans helped staff as well as the person to minimise risks but included positive risk taking.

People's diversity and their unique individual needs were well-respected by staff. The staff team knew people extremely well and were able to provide appropriate support discreetly and with compassion.

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 were all focussed on achieving these outcomes.

People were encouraged and supported to lead as fulfilled a life as possible. They were supported to follow their dreams and aspirations.

There was clear evidence of collaborative working and excellent communication with other professionals in health and social care as well as in the community and education sectors. The provider used innovative ways to build excellent relationships with the community and with health and social care professionals so that people using the service would benefit.

Staffing levels were extremely good and sufficient to ensure people's needs were met in a safe, timely and consistent way.

Staff were supported and encouraged to continue their professional development in order to progress and provide the best outcomes for people.

People were kept safe. Staff demonstrated they knew how to raise safeguarding concerns and were aware of the processes to follow in order to keep people safe. People told us they were kept safe and that they felt safe.

Care and support plans were developed to ensure people's needs and risks were met appropriately. This was to assist people to work towards achieving their maximum potential in terms of their independence. Risk management strategies were in place to assist staff to help people to manage these risks and to identify triggers for behaviours that may challenge.

The administration of medicines was managed in a safe way. There were policies and procedures in place for staff to follow and staff told us they found them useful in ensuring people received their medicines safely.

The service was following safe infection prevention and control procedures to keep people safe.

People were assisted to become more independent with their menu planning and budgeting so as to enable them to eat more healthily and within their budgets. They were helped with developing their meal preparation skills.

People's health care needs were being met and they had access to healthcare services where needed.

Staff were kind and caring, they respected and valued people using the service.

People's privacy was respected, and people were supported to maintain contact with relatives and friends.

There was a comprehensive and effective governance system in place.

People, relatives and staff were confident about approaching the registered manager if they needed to. They recognised that their views and feedback were valued and respected and consistently used to support quality service development. A wide range of comprehensive audits took place to ensure the quality of the service was maintained.

Robust processes were in place to manage and respond to complaints and concerns.