Background to this inspection
Updated
16 December 2022
Ashfield Healthcare Limited is a countrywide service providing specialised nurses and clinical nursing services to the National Health Service (NHS), independent hospitals, primary medical services, and care homes.
Ashfield Healthcare offers patients the flexibility of receiving treatments, including injections and infusions at home. It provides a nursing service and education service that can be provided within a patient’s home. Ashfield Healthcare Limited is commissioned to deliver a range of health care programmes to people in their own homes or remotely (via telephone) only one of which is regulated by the Care Quality Commission.
Ashfield Healthcare recruits and employs qualified nurses to deliver the specialist nursing care and treatments countrywide. Nurses administer medicines and train patients to self-administer medicines in their own homes as and when needed.
Clinical nurse support services and patient support services offers patients the flexibility of receiving treatments, including injections and infusions at home. Additional telephone
Support is provided. Qualified nurses administer medicines, assess patients clinically and monitor each patient for potential side effects or adverse reactions of any treatments.
Nurses also train patients to self-administer medicines in their own homes as and when needed.
The Care Quality Commission do not regulate all the services Ashfield Healthcare offers, as some of these are governed by different bodies. These services consist of pharmacy support services (prescription registration and management; dispensing; delivery and waste collection) and specialty wholesale of medicines, which consists of stock management, storage, distribution, and reporting.
Ashfield Healthcare have a team of nurses who work across the UK. Ashfield Healthcare was first registered with the CQC on 1 October 2010. The head office is located in Ashby De La Zouch, Leicestershire.
The service has a registered manager
It is registered to provide the following regulated activity:
• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury
Updated
16 December 2022
Ashfield House is run by Ashfield Healthcare and will be referred to as this throughout this report.
Ashfield Healthcare was rated good for this inspection.
Our rating of this service was good because:
- The service had enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe. Ashfield Healthcare recruits and employs qualified nurses to deliver specialist nursing care and treatments countrywide. Staff had the knowledge, expertise and training in key clinical skills. Staff complete mandatory training modules as part their induction programme and this is signed off through competency assessments.
- Staff understood how to protect patients from abuse, and managed safety well. All staff received safeguarding training and understood the organisations’ policy. Staff we spoke to knew how to raise a safeguarding concern if necessary. Safety information was used to improve the service.
- The service-controlled infection risk well with all nurses adhering to the national guidelines. All nurses had been supplied with personal protective equipment before carrying out a visit and there were no concerns with the supplies.
- Staff assessed risks to patients, acted on them and kept good care records. They managed medicines well. The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them. Staff collected safety information and used it to improve the service.
- Staff provided good care and treatment to patients and gave them pain relief when they needed it. Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients, Nurses supported patients to make decisions about their care and had access to good information.
- Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions. Staff we observed and spoke to showed kindness and respect to patients. Staff provided emotional support to patients, families, and carers.
- The service planned care to meet the needs of the local people, took account of patients’ individual needs, and made it easy for people to give feedback. People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long for treatment on referral to the service.
- Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the service’s vision and values and how to apply them in their work. Staff felt respected, supported, and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. Staff were committed to improving services to ensure patients received the best possible care.