A LONGTOWN care home has been given a 'good' rating by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Virginia Lodge Care Home, on Old Road, which provides residential care for up to 32 people, has improved upon its previous rating of 'requiring improvement' following an inspection back in 2021. 

The inspection which was carried out on October 18, shows that significant improvements have been made within the care provider, with the premise offering a good, safe, effective, caring and responsive service when they inspected their processes. 

The home which provides to those who may be living with a dementia and/or a physical disability had 19 residents using the service upon the unannounced inspection. 

The report found that 'people felt safe with kind and caring staff', medicines were managed safely and that residents were safe and protected from avoidable harm.

At the previous inspection, the safe category was marked as 'requiring improvement' as the provider had failed to robustly follow best practice in preventing and controlling infection - a breach of regulation 12 (safe care and treatment) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008. 

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The new report indicates however, that enough improvement had been made the premise was no longer in breach of this regulation.

Similarly, the previous report showed the service did not have robust quality monitoring systems in place. However, this year the rating was changed as a result of the service being consistently managed and well-led.

According to the CQC report, it reads: "The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.

"At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations." 

In the report, it showed that one staff member said: "We care for people how you would expect your own family to be cared for. We all have our jobs, but we work together as a team."

People and their relatives also thought the service was well run. One person said, "[Manager] is very nice. I speak to her often. She asks you about things."

One relative also said: "The home is very good at communicating with us; we have never had a complaint."

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