Ashton Lodge Care Home

Updated 1 May 2021

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of CQC’s response to the coronavirus pandemic we are looking at the preparedness of care homes in relation to infection prevention and control. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection control and prevention measures the provider has in place. This inspection took place on 4 March 2021 and was announced.

Updated 1 May 2021

About the service

Ashton Lodge Care Home is a nursing home providing personal and nursing care to 93 people who may have physical disabilities, dementia, end of life care needs or nursing care. Ashton Lodge Care Home provides accommodation on four floors.

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

The provider supported people to stay safe by assessing and mitigating risks, ensuring that people were cared for in a person-centred way and that the provider learned from any mistakes. Our own observations and the feedback the inspection team received supported this. People received good quality care that met their needs and improved their wellbeing from dedicated staff team. A member of staff told us, "I enjoy coming to work every day and we all make sure to provide the best care to our residents.” People were supported by a dedicated staff team and sufficient staff were deployed to ensure peoples complex needs were met. Medicines were managed safely.

People received high-quality person-centred care and support, which met their needs. The leadership team and staff ensured that people’s care, and preferences had met their expectations. People’s wellbeing, their independence, satisfaction and happiness was at the centre of the service. People and their relatives told us consistently how well the service responded to their individual needs. This gave people reassurance and also put their minds at ease, that their relatives were well cared for. One relative told us, “I know my [name] likes living at Ashton Lodge and the care they receive is much better than at home.”

Staff received a comprehensive induction and on-going training. They had attended a variety of training to ensure they were able to provide care based on current best practice when supporting people. They were also supported with regular supervisions and appraisals. People could make choices about the food and drink they had, and staff gave support if and when required to enable people to eat a balanced diet. People were supported to access a variety of health professionals when needed, to make sure they received additional healthcare to meet their needs. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Care was personalised and met individual needs. Staff knew people well, cared about them and understood their care and support needs. Care was not only focused on tasks, but was focused on what people needed, wanted and choose. People lived busy lives and took part in a wide range of interests, activities and parties. Staff supported people to be fully included in the local community and were always looking to build further social links. Staff were extremely skilled at helping people and their significant others to support them through the end of life journey. The service worked collaboratively with external health care professionals to achieve good outcomes for people who used the service.

The registered manager and clinical lead were experienced, skilled leaders who were committed to involving people, relatives and staff in the development of the service. People, their relatives, representatives, and staff were involved and enabled to make suggestions to improve how the service was run. Very effective audits and governance systems were in place to monitor the service and to drive forward any sustained improvements required. The registered manager and their staff team linked up, communicated and continuously worked with other organisations to ensure people's well-being.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 30 December 2016).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

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