The Care Quality Commission
  • Care Home
  • Care home

Archived: Grasmere House

33 Cargate Avenue, Aldershot, Hampshire, GU11 3EW (01252) 328052

Provided and run by:
Mrs J Ramtohal

All Inspections

3 December 2013

During a routine inspection

There were seven people living at Grasmere House at the time of our visit. We looked around the building which was clean and free of unpleasant odours. All the rooms were single occupancy with hand basins and three of the rooms had ensuite toilets and hand basins. The rooms were personalised with photographs, TV's and pictures. We saw that bedroom doors had people's names on and memory boxes that contained photographs. This was because the people living at Grasmere House had memory loss or dementia. There was a chair lift so that people could access the first floor.

During our visit we spoke with two people who used the service and four members of staff including the registered manager and a health care professional who was visiting the home. Due to the nature of people's dementia we were able to obtain limited feedback. We observed how staff interacted and supported people. We saw staff treating people in a sensitive, respectful and professional manner.

All the people we saw looked happy living at Grasmere House. People told us that they 'liked the home' and that the food was good. A health care professional we spoke with told us that they visited the home regularly and that they had no concerns or issues with Grasmere House.

We saw that care plans were person centre and all aspects of people's care needs were reviewed. People's assessment of care needs looked at their goals and support required.

During a check to make sure that the improvements required had been made

We found that the provider had taken measures to ensure that staff were appropriately supported in their work through regular supervision sessions and appraisals of their work. We were provided with evidence that staff had updated their safeguarding training and that they were up to date with the provider's required training.

We found that the provider had taken measures to ensure that the views of staff had been sought via staff meetings and that these meetings had been documented. Although at the previous inspection people's relatives had told us they felt able to provide their feedback about the service directly to the registered manager. The provider sent us written evidence that they had held a relative's meeting to enable people's relatives to provide feedback on the service. We found that the provider had taken measures to ensure that they monitored the quality of the service they provided, as they had completed a range of audits of the service.

15 January 2013

During a routine inspection

We spoke with people who used the service and their relatives. We also used our Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI) in order to understand the experiences of people who used the service.

We spoke with a person who told us 'it is wonderful here, I am well cared for'. People's relatives also told us 'the care is excellent' and that the home was very caring with a good culture. We found through our observations that staff interacted positively with people and were caring and supportive.

We saw that people's views had been taken into account in the way care was provided. People's care needs had been identified and care plans promoted their independence where possible. Staff were aware of their safeguarding roles and responsibilities.

We found that the provider had not been implementing their supervision policy for some time or completing staff appraisals regularly. We were also not assured that all staff were up to date with the provider's training requirements.

We found that the provider had systems to monitor the quality and safety of the service they provided. They were not however using them regularly enough for them to be effective.

13 July 2011

During an inspection in response to concerns

Not many of the residents were able to talk to us about their care. During the lunchtime, we used our SOFI (Short Observational Framework for Inspection) tool to help us observe people's experiences at mealtimes. The SOFI tool allows us to spend time watching what is going on in a service and helps us to record how people spend their time and whether they have positive experiences. This includes looking at the support that is given to them by the staff. We spent an hour observing at lunchtime and found that overall people had positive experiences. The staff supporting them knew what support they needed and they respected their wishes if they wanted to manage on their own.