- Care home
Ashton Court Residential Home
Assessment report published 27 July 2025
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of assessment: 23 June to 2 July 2025. Ashton Court Residential Home is a residential care home providing care and support to older people, some of whom were living with dementia. At the time of the assessment there were 23 people living at the home. We previously assessed the service in January 2021 and it was rated requires improvement. We assessed the service due to concerns raised regarding fire safety and to check if improvements had been made since our last assessment. We looked at all key questions and all quality statements. The service had deteriorated and was rated inadequate. The provider was in breach of regulations relating to person centred care, safe care and treatment, safeguarding and good governance.
We carried out a tour of the home with the deputy manager and found people were not protected from the risk and spread of infection. The home was not well maintained, and many areas were not kept clean. Systems and processes in place did not always evidence people had received their medicines as prescribed. The environment was not always safe. The management team were in the process of responding to a recent fire safety risk assessment carried out by South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue service. At the time of our site visit the passenger lift was faulty. This had been reported and was due to be addressed the following day. Large items of furniture were not always securely fastened to walls. Risks associated with people’s care were mainly managed safely, however, some care plans did not always provide sufficient information to support people safely. Accidents and incidents were not always robustly analysed to identify trends and patterns to mitigate future risks.
People did not always receive person centred care and support. Care plans were updated and reviewed monthly but there was no evidence to show people, and their families had been involved in discussions about their care. People had access to healthcare professionals.
Staff were kind and caring when they interacted with people, however, there were times when staff were very task focused. There was a lack of regard for people’s home; for example, when the dining area was not in use for meals, it was used mainly by staff who kept their drinks and snacks there. There was also an area in the corner of the dining room which was used by senior staff to store documents.
Management systems and processes were not effective in identifying areas for improvement. During our inspection we identified concerns in relation to safe care and treatment, infection prevention and control (IPC), the care environment, person-centred care and good governance. None of these issues had been previously identified by the management team.
This service is being placed in special measures. The purpose of special measures is to ensure services providing inadequate care make significant improvements. Special measures provide a framework within which we use our enforcement powers in response to inadequate care and provide a timeframe within which providers must improve the quality of the care they provide.
In instances where CQC have decided to take civil or criminal enforcement action against a provider, we will publish this information on our website after any representations and/or appeals have been concluded. We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.
People's experience of this service
We spoke with people and relatives and received mixed feedback about the care provided at Ashton Court Residential Home. Some relatives expressed concerns regarding staffing. One relative shared concerns about the availability and presence of staff in the lounge area, saying, “If someone has a fall it is left to other residents to shout for them [staff].” Another relative said, “Sometimes there doesn’t seem to be enough staff. They seem a little ‘thin’ sometimes.” People and relatives told us they thought the service was safe. One relative said, “[Family member] is happy enough and settled. They [staff] see to [family member’s needs].” People and relatives told us medicines were administered as required and people said they saw the doctor if they needed to. People told us they had access to baths and showers but were not routinely supported to access them. One person said, “Now and then I have a bath, not often.” People were not always supported to make choices and their preferences were not always met. For example, there were no show plates during lunch to support people living with dementia to make a choice about what they wanted to eat.