Ashbourne Quality Care Ltd

Updated 12 August 2021

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

One inspector completed this inspection.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. Inspection activity started on 02 July 2021 and ended on 14 July 2021. We visited the office location on 5 July 2021.

What we did before the inspection

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We reviewed a range of records. This included parts of five people’s care records and three medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were also reviewed.

After the inspection

We contacted eight people using the service, or their relatives to provide views on the care the person using the service had received. The inspector spoke with or contacted six care staff. We contacted two social care professionals who had knowledge of the service.

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at further training data and reviewed quality assurance records.

Updated 12 August 2021

About the service

Ashbourne Quality Care Ltd is a domiciliary care provider. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection, 28 people were receiving a personal care service.

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

Improvements had been made since the last inspection. There was sufficient evidence to demonstrate audits and actions were being completed. However, these were not fully embedded to provide us with the assurances they were robust enough, or sustainable. We have made a recommendation about reviewing the auditing process of incidents and accidents to ensure clear outcomes are recorded and any lessons learned are documented.

There were enough staff to effectively meet the current packages of care for people’s needs. People were supported by staff who had the knowledge and skills to ensure they were safe from harm. Risk assessments had been completed, to assess and reduce any risks associated with the required support.

People were supported by a regular team of care staff, people said they usually received their calls on time. When people required assistance to eat or drink, the provider ensured this was planned to meet their preferences and their current assessed need. People had support when required, to liaise with healthcare professionals to ensure they remained well.

People had developed caring relationships with staff, and people told us they treated them with respect. People were appreciative and spoke fondly of staff who provided their care.

The provider had developed good working relationships with other health and social care professionals to support the needs of people using the service.

There were systems in place to support and drive improvements. People were involved in their care and were asked for feedback to support the development of the service.

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.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Ashbourne Quality Care Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 18 February 2020) and there were multiple breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations. The overall rating has changed from Requires Improvement to Good. This is based at the findings on this inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.

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.