The Care Quality Commission
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  • Care home

Ashurst Park Care Home

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Fordcombe Road, Fordcombe, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN3 0RD (01892) 709000

Provided and run by:
Bondcare (London) Limited

Important: The provider of this service changed. See old profile

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

We carried out this fully comprehensive inspection to Ashurst Park Care Home on 2 June 2025. We inspected the service to follow up on the breaches of regulation and the enforcement action we took following our last visit. Ashurst Park Care Home is a service which provides nursing care and accommodation for up to 53 people. Some people were living with dementia and other people had complex health needs.

There were also people at the service who had a learning disability and as such, we have assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture (RSRCRC)’ statutory guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. RSRCRC guidance supports person-centred care that promotes choice, inclusion, control, and independence. It emphasizes treating people with a learning disability and autistic people equitably and as whole individuals, not just diagnosis.

The registered manager had improved risk management within the service. Staff were well-trained and reported safeguarding concerns when necessary. However, we found guidance in some people’s care plans could be clearer and more detailed. The service was clean, well maintained and checked for its safety. Staff worked well as a team and went through a robust recruitment process. Improvements had been made to the medicine practices.

People’s needs were assessed prior to them moving in though the registered manager had not considered the RSRCRC statutory guidance in relation to people with learning disabilities. Staff worked with external professionals to support people’s care. Through the input of staff, some people experienced significant health improvements. Staff were trained in the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and appropriate legal safeguards were in place where relevant.

Positive changes had been made since the last inspection and staff told us they felt fully supported by management. The registered manager had created a strong positive culture where staff’s focus was people living at the service to help ensure they received high quality care. However, further work was needed to embed RSRCRC for those people living with a learning disability.

At this inspection, we found the registered manager was breaching the requirements around capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders as they had not recognised the need to comply with the RSRCRC statutory guidance.

8 July 2021

During a routine inspection

About the service

Ashurst Park Care Home is registered to provide nursing, personal care and accommodation for 53 older people and younger adults, people living with dementia and people with physical adaptive needs.

At this inspection there were 35 people living in the service all of whom were older people. Most people lived with dementia.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People told us they were safe at the service. A person said, "The staff are good to me and I like them." Relatives were consistently positive about the service. A relative said, “They have managed to heal the pressure sores my family member got in hospital. And they have also persuaded my family member to eat properly getting special foods in. Staff are great. Even the cleaner noticed that something was wrong and they immediately changed the bed. This place has been an absolute godsend. I have not got a bad word to say.”

Fire safety arrangements were not robust, and some staff did not have all the knowledge and skills they needed to provide safe care and treatment. There were shortfalls in medicines management, enough staff were not always on duty and safe staff recruitment practices were not always followed.

People did not consistently receive person-centred care promoting their dignity. Information was not presented in an accessible way. People were not fully supported to engage in social activities and to be involved in making decisions about their care. Quality checks were not robust and had not identified the concerns we found.

There was a poor culture and some staff were not motivated to provide high-quality care.

The accommodation was not adapted for people living with dementia. We have made a recommendation about adapting the accommodation.

Infection was prevented and controlled. Lessons were learned when there were slips, trips and falls to reduce the risk of the same thing happening again. People were supported to eat and drink safely. The service ensured people received coordinated care including any medical attention they needed.

Complaints were properly managed, and people received safe end of life care in line with national guidelines. The registered manager had appropriately responded to a duty of candour event by being open and honest when something had gone wrong. The service worked in partnership with other agencies.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we inspected

This service was registered with us on 3 June 2020 and this is the first inspection.

The last rating for the service under the previous registered provider was Good published on 24 October 2019.

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about the measures in place to safeguard people from abuse and provide safe care and treatment. There were also concerns about enough staff being on duty, the provision of person-centred care and the arrangements to supervise the running of the service. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infectious outbreaks effectively.

In view of the concerns we received we inspected all five key questions.

The overall rating for the service is Requires Improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection. Please see the Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led sections of the full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Ashurst Park Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

We have identified breaches of regulations in relation to safe care and treatment, staffing, person-centred care and dignity and respect. There is also a breach of regulation in relation to the systems and processes used to monitor and evaluate the running of the service.

Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to the more serious concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.

Follow up

We will meet with the registered provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. We will work with the local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.