Orchard Lodge Care Home

This care home accommodates up to 28 older adults with dementia or life-limiting conditions across a two-storey building, though only six people were living there at inspection. Medicines were not always managed safely, with gaps identified in medication recording practices and administration protocols that increased risk, despite no evidence of actual harm to residents. Management oversight in this area requires review.

End of life care protocols and procedures needed improvement, as guidance was not consistently available to staff and additional training was needed. The provider and manager had already identified these issues and arranged specialist training, which took place during the inspection. Relatives reported that while the manager and provider offered increased communication updates during the COVID-19 pandemic, these were not always received.