Oakhurst Lodge

There were systems, processes, and practices in place to ensure people were protected from abuse and avoidable harm. Staff undertook safeguarding training and safeguarding policies and procedures were available. Staff had a good understanding of safeguarding and were confident to raise concerns if needed, they told us, they were encouraged by the management team to raise concerns. Incidents were investigated and lessons learned if care had not gone to plan. Risks associated with people’s health conditions and support needs, were assessed, monitored, and mitigated effectively. People received their medicines as prescribed. There were safe recruitment processes in place. There was enough suitably skilled staff available to meet people's needs. Infection prevention and control was safely managed, and people lived in a clean home.

People’s needs were assessed, and care and support were delivered in line with current standards to achieve effective outcomes. Assessments recorded people’s likes, dislikes, choices, and preferred communication methods. People benefited from a multi-disciplinary team who worked in the home each week. Staff worked well together, and with professionals both internally and externally to the home which benefited the people they were supporting. People’s rights for seeking their consent and respecting their choices were upheld. People were supported to access health care services as they needed and had annual health checks. There were hospital passports and health action plans in place to assist external healthcare professionals to understand people’s needs. Positive behaviour support plans were in place to guide staff on how to respond should people display distressed behaviours. Staff knew people well and this helped to ensure they were able to anticipate their needs and seek appropriate support or guidance.

The provider had systems in place to ensure people had independence, choice, and control over their lives. Care plans were personalised and detailed people’s preferences. Staff were able to describe how they support people to maintain their independence. Other than ‘Independence, choice and control’, we did not assess any other quality statements during this assessment in this domain. Our last assessment under our old methodology rated this key question as good and we have no evidence to indicate this has changed.

The governance of the service had improved. A new management team were in place and had made improvements in the service. The provider had a range of quality assurance processes in place, and these were used effectively. This included audits of medicines, care plans and people’s environments. Staff told us they were better supported since the new managers had started. They told us, they were confident the leadership team were committed to delivering a good quality service and promoted a supportive and open culture. Staff told us they had confidence in the skills and knowledge of their leadership team. The provider had systems in place to develop the knowledge and skills of its current and future leaders and the manager’s told us they were supported by the provider in all aspects.