We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

This inspection was undertaken by one inspector, one specialist advisor who was a nurse and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who has used this type of service.

Service and service type:

Ash Grange is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation, nursing or personal care. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with CQC. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection:

The inspection was unannounced.

What we did:

We reviewed the information we received about the service since the last inspection. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse or serious injuries. We assessed the information we require providers to send us at least annually to give information about the service, what the service does well and the improvements they plan to make. We also sought feedback from the local authority and clinical commissioning group. We used this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection we spoke with six people and two relatives or visitors to ask their experience of the care provided. We spoke with five members of care staff, the deputy and registered manager and assistant director. We also spoke with one external visiting healthcare professional. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a specific way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk to us.

We reviewed a range of records. This included five care and medicine records. We looked at two recruitment and training records for staff. We reviewed the records relating to the management of the service including checks and audits.