Cottage Farm Lodge

Cottage Farm provides personal care and support to people within a complex of 30 one-bedroom flats. Five of which are short stay, to assist people to come out of hospital for a period of assessment before they return home or to alternative accommodation. The flats are arranged over two floors with a lift and stairs to each floor. Staff provide care at pre-arranged times and people have access to call bells for staff to respond whenever additional help is required. People also have access to a communal lounge and a dining room.

Not everyone living at Cottage Farm Lodge received personal care. At the time of our visit 22 people were in receipt of personal care from the provider. People received varying levels of personal care and support depending on their needs. Some people required minimal assistance with personal care. Others required assistance with showering/bathing, mobility continence care, administration of medication, and nutritional support.

At our last comprehensive inspection of this service in February 2016, we rated the service as 'Good'. At this inspection, we found the service continued to be safe, effective, caring. responsive and well-led. The rating remains Good.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the service is run.

People felt safe living at Cottage Farm Lodge and staff understood how to keep people safe from avoidable harm and abuse. Risks associated with people's care were identified and plans were in place to inform staff how to manage risks. Where people required support to take prescribed medicines, staff had received training to assist people safely.

There were enough trained, experienced staff available to meet people's assessed needs and to allocate all the visits people required. Recruitment checks were completed on new staff to ensure they were suitable to support people who used the service.

People were visited by a team of staff that they knew and who stayed long enough to do everything people needed without having to rush. People said staff were kind and considerate, and respected their privacy.

People's right to make their own decisions about their care were supported by managers and staff who understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act. The managers and staff had provided very effective support to people who made unwise decisions due to alcohol dependency.

People were provided with care and support which was individual to them. People could live their lives in the way they chose and were supported to live as independently as possible. When needed, arrangements were in place to support people's nutrition and healthcare needs.

The managers and staff had a good understanding of people's individual needs and preferences. People's care and support needs were kept under review and staff responded when there were changes in these needs. People were encouraged to raise concerns and were confident these would be responded to.

There was an experienced management team that worked well together. Managers and staff shared the same values and were committed to providing a quality service to people. Staff received good support from the management team who they said were always available to give advice. There were effective and responsive processes for assessing and monitoring the quality of the service.

The five questions we ask about services and what we found