We inspected the service on 2 April 2015. The inspection was unannounced. Ashton Court is registered to provide care and support for up to 39 people including people living with a disability and/or a dementia related illness. The service is set out over two floors and there is a lift to enable people to access the second floor. On the day of our inspection 28 people were using the service.
The service did not have a registered manager in place at the time of our inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons.’ Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
When we last inspected the service on 13 May 2014 we found there were improvements needed in relation to the way medicines were stored and administered to people. The provider sent us an action plan telling us they would make these improvements by September 2014. We found at this inspection that this had been completed and the provider had made improvements in line with their action plan.
People felt safe in the service and the manager shared information with the local authority when needed. Staff knew how to respond to incidents if the manager was not in the service. This meant there were systems in place to protect people from the risk of abuse.
Medicines were managed safely and people received their medicines as prescribed. People were cared for by adequate numbers of staff to ensure they received care and support when they needed it.
People were supported by staff who had the knowledge and skills to provide safe and appropriate care and support.
People were supported to make decisions about their care. Where people lacked capacity to make certain decisions, they were protected under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
People were not always supported to maintain their nutrition and staff did not always have the information they needed to monitor deterioration in people’s health.
People were treated with dignity and respect and had their choices acted on. We saw staff were kind and caring when supporting people.
People enjoyed the activities and social stimulation they were offered. People also knew who to speak with if they had any concerns they wished to raise and they felt these would be taken seriously.
People were involved in giving their views on how the service was run through the systems used to monitor the quality of the service. Audits had been completed that resulted in improvements being made to the service.