Ashurst Park Care Home

On this page

• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

Caring– this means we looked for evidence that the provider involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

At our last assessment we rated this key question Requires Improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to Good.

This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care. Everyone received care from kind, compassionate and attentive staff, although further work was needed to ensure that everyone living at the service was treated as an individual. Where people could, they could retain their independence and generally people were supported with their own decision making.

This service scored 65 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Management and staff always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity.

Without exception everyone we spoke with told us staff provided them with kind and caring care as well as treating them with respect. People told us, “100% they (staff) treat me with respect. Sometimes I get worried or upset and they ask me what is wrong and take me to the quiet room”, “Staff are wonderful” and “Very well looked after. It’s an excellent home.”

Relatives said, “They are lovely here. Very welcoming, kind and good”, “I think the nurses and care staff have a lot of empathy and patience with everybody. I look around the room and we are all welcomed here. They really are dedicated” and, “It’s the care, they love him. They are the most respectful team of people. The care is so humble.”

Staff displayed a thoughtful and gentle approach towards people. One person asked staff, “Where is my handbag?” and a staff member responded telling them, “It’s in your bedroom. It’s nice and safe in your room” which settled the person.

Another person had been out for a dental appointment and upon their return a staff member asked them how they had got on. They told them, “It was a 2-hour journey” upon which the staff member responded, “Would you like a drink?” The person proceeded to tell the staff member they had not had a drink all morning and a coffee would be nice. This was fetched immediately for the person.

During lunchtime, several people stayed seated in the main lounge area, either dozing off or not ready to eat. Staff kindly encouraged them to move to the dining room, using gentle conversation and a warm, persuasive approach. When one person expressed a desire to go home, a staff member replied, “Would you like to have lunch before you go? It won’t take long, and I think it’s your favourite. Let’s go this way as it’s a shorter route to the dining room.” This thoughtful response helped to distract and reassure the person, who then happily joined the others for lunch.

Each time staff passed people, they smiled or said hello and chatted with the person. One person spoke in French from time to time and we heard staff responding with words like, “Bonjour.” This made the person smile.

During the day we observed exceptional kindness and commitment from staff to each person and it was clear people were at the heart of the care provided. This creating an atmosphere of everyone feeling truly valued and recognised as a person.

Staff treated people with dignity. A relative told us, “The laundry is amazing. He only has to get one mark on something and it’s straight off to the laundry and it comes back beautifully.” Other relatives told how their family members always looked well-presented.

The provider recognised people as individuals and endeavoured to meet their care, support and treatment in line with their needs and preferences but further work was needed to ensure this was consistent.

There was limited information about a person’s life or social history in some people’s care plans such as where they had lived previously and who their family members were. Although some people had it recorded they liked to listen to music it did not always include the genre of music they preferred. One person told us they suffered with their mental health due to a previous experience, but there was nothing included in their care plan about this. In additional there was nothing specific in the service for those people with a learning disability who were not being cared for in bed. A relative said, “It would be nice to have a proper sensory room. They added, “Younger people around him would be nice. That would be the only thing we would mention if we felt something could be better. But his care is exceptional.”

Yet, we observed people being treated as individuals and relatives confirmed this. One relative said, “She wanted to go in the garden and staff prepared her for me to take her. There were blackberries and she took one and ate it. The fact she remembered it was to eat. It was lovely.”

We also saw people in their rooms looking comfortable and listening to music they liked or with a favourite comforter. For example, one person being cared for in bed, had classical music playing. They told us this was their favourite music, and another person was seen holding a soft toy. A further person preferred the peace and quiet of their room and told us staff respected this.

People’s rooms were individualised and personal to them. One person told us, “I like my bedroom. I have my photos.” Another person enjoyed a game of scrabble, and we saw a staff member playing a game with them.

During lunch we saw people being supported in different ways and in line with their needs. One person was wandering with purpose throughout which staff respected, but they periodically reminded the person that lunch was available and when they were ready they sat down to eat. Another person chose to rest during their lunch and staff stopped what they were doing and provided a soft cloth on which they could rest their head. People were not being outpaced when being supported to eat.

The registered manager tried to promote people’s independence but again, further improvement was required to help ensure everyone was given equal opportunity to make their own choices.

Some people with a learning disability were not always being supported with their independence and choice. One person went out on the organised trips, yet this was often to places like the local supermarket or town, despite their care plan recording they did not like noisy places. This person was significantly younger than most others at the service, yet the registered manager had not considered how to better support a good and meaningful daily life through truly person-centred, planned, proactive, and coordinated care. During a period of 4 weeks we read this person had gone out on just a couple of occasions and there was no evidence of how staff had supported this person to make decisions around how they spent their time. After speaking with the registered manager they told us, following our visit, they were looking at more suitable activities for this person in line with their preferences and choice.

Other people had the opportunity to retain their independence where they could. We observed throughout the day one person moving around the service in their wheelchair. They picked up a newspaper to read at one point and later took themselves into the dining room and had a drink. One person told us, “I like to keep my own bedroom clean. They (staff) know that. I lock my bedroom door at night. It makes me feel safer. I am supported to be independent. I don’t like things done for me. I like to dust my own room.”

Another person with a learning disability and was bedbound was having a ceiling hoist installed to give them more freedom of movement. They were recorded as being at risk of social isolation. Although there was little recorded in their care plan around social goals/achievements to support their social interaction, choice and control and reduce the risk of isolation, a TV monitor had been installed in their room so they could choose whether to ‘participate’ in the activities taking place in communal areas.

The registered manager listened to and understood people’s needs and staff responded to people’s needs in the moment.

Staff were good at meeting people’s needs quickly. The call bell rang at times during the day, but we were aware of it being responded to promptly. When one person wished to speak with us in private a staff member brought the person in a tray of biscuits and a hot drink so they did not miss out on the drinks being offered in the main communal area. The person told us, “He (carer) is wonderful.”

A relative told us, “We mentioned to staff we though he had some dry skin. Honestly, we came in the next week and (staff member) told us she had been treating it. It’s all gone. It was amazing.”

The registered manager cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff.

Staff felt very supported working at Ashurst Park Care Home. They told us, “The manager is good. She is friendly and she is like family. We can tell her all our problems. I was supported when I started here” and, “The manager is somebody that talks to you. She says her goal is to keep residents safe and to do that I need happy staff. She calls at the weekend and asks if we need support. She is exceptional. She is here for us. I feel trusted (in my role).