Ashfield Care Home

Ashfield Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care to up to 23 people. The service provides support to older people, some of whom are living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 22 people using the service.

Ashfield Care Home accommodates people in one adapted building across 3 floors, accessible by a lift. The service had recently developed 3 one bedroom flats at the rear of the property which accommodates people of lower dependency. Residents had access to a communal lounge, dining area and garden.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People received safe and effective care from a qualified and competent staff team. The service ensured people’s safety by ensuring risks to people were appropriately identified and managed. People were protected from abuse or risks of abuse as staff were trained in safeguarding and knew their responsibilities to raise concerns. Staff ensured people received their medicines safely. People were protected from the risk of infections as staff adhered to infection control measures.

Managers assessed people’s needs and made sure these were reflected in their care plans. The service served healthy meals to people and staff knew how to support each person with their eating and drinking needs. Staff also promoted people’s health and wellbeing by making sure they had appropriate access to healthcare services.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Staff were caring, respected people’s differences and promoted their independence. Staff knew people well and delivered care according to people’s specific needs. People were encouraged to stay active as much as possible and engage among each other in activities organised by staff.

The leadership team was supportive and aware of their duties. Managers and staff had worked together to implement positive changes and address previously identified shortfalls. Systems were in place to manage complaints, capture people’s views and assess the quality of service.

People, their relatives and staff were overall satisfied with the service.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 23 May 2022) and there were breaches of regulation. 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.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to follow up on actions we told the provider to take at the last inspection.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

Ashfield Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care for to up to 20 people. The service provides support to older people, some of whom are living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 20 people using the service.

Ashfield Care Home accommodates people in one adapted building across three floors, two of which are accessible by a lift.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

We identified concerns with cleanliness and maintenance at the home.

The provider had monitoring systems in place, but these had not been effective as they had failed to proactively identify and address the issues we found during our inspection.

We have made a recommendation about the management of medicines.

We found that records related to ‘As Needed’ medicines were not always in place. Medicines were not stored securely and not all staff administering medicines had been assessed as competent to do so. The provider took prompt action to address these concerns following the inspection.

People and their families were overall positive around their experience of care at Ashfield Care Home. Feedback praised the person-centred care, caring and committed staff team and management team.

There were processes in place to prevent and control infection at the service, through regular COVID-19 testing, additional cleaning and safe visiting precautions.

People told us they felt safe living at Ashfield. Risks associated with people's health and care were assessed and staff knew how to keep people safe. Staffing levels were appropriate, and staff were safely recruited.

The provider sought feedback from people. People and staff were confident they could raise any concerns they had with the registered manager and felt they would be listened to.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was good (published 12 February 2021).

Why we inspected

This focused inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the Safe and Well-led sections of this full report.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Ashfield Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

We have identified breaches in relation to premises and equipment and governance at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.