Blandford Lodge

The last rating for this service was good (published 17 March 2022). This assessment was conducted because concerns had been identified through complaints and safeguarding alerts. At the assessment, we found the provider had taken appropriate action to respond to these concerns and to keep people safe. The rating remains good.

People were not always able to access all areas of the building. For example, some staff locked the kitchen door because they had judged people were not safe to access this independently. This was not part of an agreed assessment and people living at the service had the mental capacity to make decisions about accessing this. We discussed this with the management team. They agreed this should not be happening. They told us they would ensure staff respected people’s rights and would help staff to manage risk in a less restrictive way.

The provider was in the process of introducing new record keeping systems. At the time of our assessment, some records needed to be archived, and some information was not easily accessible. We discussed this with the management team. They started to develop systems further and sent us evidence of improvements following our visit.

The building was safe and generally well-maintained. However, improvements were needed in 1 bedroom to ensure this was personalised.

People were safely cared for. Risks to their wellbeing had been assessed and planned for. Staff supported people to take their medicines in a safe way.

People’s needs and preferences had been assessed. They were involved in planning their care and support. Staff monitored people’s mental and physical health. Staff worked with other professionals to ensure people’s needs were met.

There were enough staff to keep people safe and meet their needs. Staff were provided with training and information to help them understand about their roles and people’s needs.

The provider had effective systems for monitoring and improving the quality of the service. These included asking people using the service and other stakeholders for feedback.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Although no one using the service at the time of our assessment had a learning disability, we considered whether the provider had systems in place to meet the principles of Right support, right care, right culture. We found they did. For example, staff had undertaken training to understand about good care for people with a learning disability, the provider had developed health action plans to coordinate people’s healthcare, people were supported to be involved in the local community, they were able to make choices about their support and plan for their own future.