Archived: Ashbridge Lodge Residential Care Home

Updated 1 November 2017

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

This inspection took place on 31 August 2017 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location was a small care home for adults who are often out during the day and we needed to be sure that someone would be in.

Before the inspection we checked the information we held about the service. This included any notifications and safeguarding alerts. We also contacted the local borough contracts and commissioning teams that had placements at the home, the local Healthwatch and the local borough safeguarding team. Before the inspection the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

The inspection team consisted of one inspector. During our inspection we observed how the staff interacted with people who used the service and also looked at people’s bedrooms and bathrooms with their permission. We spoke with two people who lived in the service and one relative during the inspection. We also spoke with the provider, the registered manager, and two support workers. We spoke with two relatives after the inspection.

We looked at three care files, staff duty rosters, four staff files, a range of audits, minutes for various meetings, four medicines records, finances records, training information, safeguarding information, health and safety folder, and maintenance records.

Updated 1 November 2017

We inspected Ashbridge Lodge Residential Care Home on 31 August 2017. This was an announced inspection. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location was a small care home for adults who are often out during the day and we needed to be sure that someone would be in. At the last inspection on October 2015 the service was rated as Good. We found the service remained Good at this inspection.

Ashbridge Lodge Residential Care Home is a care home providing personal care and support for people with learning disabilities. The home is registered for five people. At the time of the inspection they were providing personal care and support to four people.

There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The experiences of people who lived at the service were positive. People and their relatives told us they felt the service was safe, staff were kind and the care they received was good. We found staff had a good understanding of their responsibility with regard to safeguarding adults.

Risk assessments were in place which provided guidance on how to support people safely. There was enough staff to meet people’s needs. Medicines were managed in a safe manner. There were sufficient numbers of suitable staff employed by the service. Staff had been recruited safely with appropriate checks on their backgrounds completed.

Staff undertook training and received regular supervision to help support them to provide effective care. Staff we spoke with had a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). MCA and DoLS is law protecting people who are unable to make decisions for themselves or whom the state has decided their liberty needs to be deprived in their own best interests. We saw people were able to choose what they ate and drank.

Person centred support plans were in place and people and their relatives were involved in planning the care and support the received.

People’s cultural and religious needs were respected when planning and delivering care. Discussions with staff members showed that they respected people’s sexual orientation so that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people could feel accepted and welcomed in the service.

People had access to a wide variety of activities within the community. The provider had a complaint procedure in place. People and their relatives knew how to make a complaint.

Staff told us the registered manager was approachable and open. The service had various quality assurance and monitoring mechanisms in place. These included surveys, audits and staff and resident meetings.