Ashwood

Updated 19 April 2023

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of this inspection, we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

Ashwood is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Ashwood is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service is small, and people are often out, and we wanted to be sure there would be people at home to speak with us.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority service improvement and safeguarding teams. The provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the 1 person who lived at Ashwood and their relative about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with the 2 providers and owners of Ashwood. We reviewed feedback from a social care professional on their experience of the service.

We reviewed a range of records. This included the person’s care record and medication records. We looked at recruitment documents for the 2 provider and owners of Ashwood. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 19 April 2023

About the service

Ashwood is a small residential care home registered to provide care and support for up to 2 people. The service specialises in providing support to people who have a learning disability. At the time of our inspection there was 1 person living at the home. There was no registered manager in place. This was because the provider was exempt from this requirement as they are registered as an individual and in day-to-day control of the running of the service.

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right Support

Ashwood had provided a family home, care, and support to the person for over 15 years, they told us they were happy. The person was supported to have maximum choice and control of their life 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.

Right Care

The person was supported to live a inclusive and active life. They told us Ashwood was their home and spoke highly of the providers. Dignity and respect were shown to enable the person to be confident when navigating the world. Risks to the person were assessed and covered all aspects of their daily life.

Right Culture

The providers were passionate about providing a stable, family home for people. The providers had extensive experience of the care sector and had created an open, supportive culture within their home.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 27 June 2018).

Why we inspected

We had not inspected and visited this service since 2018. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

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.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service has remained good based on the findings of this inspection.

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

Follow up

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