- Care home
Acorn Lodge - Surbiton
Report from 22 January 2025 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of Assessment: 4 to 19 February 2025. The service is a residential care home providing support to people with a learning disability and mental health needs. At the time of our assessment there were 10 people using the service.
We assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted.
The provider had a good learning culture aiming to protect and keep people safe. There were enough staff with the right skills, qualifications and experience. Staff managed medicines well and involved people in planning any changes. However, we found a health and safety concern because the provider had not always ensured the necessary maintenance of the facilities.
People were involved in assessments of their needs. Staff monitored people’s health to support healthy living. People had enough to eat and drink. However, people were not always involved in making important decisions about their care to ensure their best interests were considered if they did not have the capacity to make the decision themselves.
People were treated with kindness and compassion. Staff encouraged people to maintain relationships with family and friends. People had the necessary support to go out in the community when they wanted to. However, people were not always supported to interact and occupy their free time because of the lack of activities in the house.
People and their family members were confident the provider took their concerns seriously and acted on it. Staff provided information that people could understand.
Leaders and staff had a shared vision and culture based on listening, learning and trust. Any improvements required that we identified during this assessment were addressed by the provider on the day of our visit.
People's experience of this service
People felt safe and were fully involved in planning their care and understood their rights. Staff knew people well and treated them as individuals. One person said, “I can choose what to wear and if I want a bath or not.” People were cared for in a kind and compassionate manner and had their privacy and dignity respected. Some people could not directly tell us about their experience. We used a structured observation tool to assess whether they received good care. This approach showed people were included and listened to and staff interacted positively with them. People and their family members knew staff and leaders well. They felt able to complain and were confident that action would be taken to improve as necessary. One person told us they would approach the registered manager if something was wrong but that they never had to do this.