Archived: Ashwood Court Care Home

Updated 10 April 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection team consisted of one inspector and one expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type:

Ashwood Court Care Home provides personal care for older people, some of whom are living with a dementia. The service is a 'care home'. People in care homes receive accommodation and personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at on this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This meant that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection:

Day one of the inspection was unannounced which meant the provider did not know we would be visiting. The second and third day of inspection was announced so the provider knew we would be returning.

What we did:

Before the inspection we reviewed the information, we held about the service. This included the statutory notifications sent to us by the registered provider about incidents and events that had occurred at the service. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send to us by law.

The provider had 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 any improvements they plan to make. The PIR was submitted after we finished the inspection.

During the inspection:

We looked at five care plans and nine medicine administration records (MAR). We spoke with five people who used the service and five relatives. We spoke with the registered manager, the deputy manager, one care assistant, one domestic and the activities coordinator. We also spoke with one healthcare professional and one consultant who were visiting the service during our inspection. We looked at four staff files, which included recruitment records. We also looked at records involved with the day to day running of the service.

We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

After inspection:

At our request the registered manager sent us copies of various documents for us to review. We also contacted the local fire service to discuss issues regarding the home’s fire risk assessment.

Updated 10 April 2019

About the service:

Ashwood Court is registered to provide personal and nursing care to a maximum of 30 older people, including people who live with dementia or a dementia related condition. At the time of Inspection 26 people were living at the home.

People’s experience of using this service:

Medicines were not always managed safely. Medicine records were not always accurate. High calorie drinks were out of date. Fire safety improvements had not been made promptly.

Some improvements had been made to staff training, but some staff had not completed training in key areas.

People received person-centred care which met their needs. People had detailed and individual care plans which were regularly reviewed and updated as people’s needs changed. Risk assessments were in place to help keep people safe.

People told us they felt safe. People and their relatives told us staff knew them well and provided care that was kind and considerate. During the inspection we saw staff treated people with great kindness and respect.

The provider worked with other local healthcare professionals. People had access to and were referred to a variety of other healthcare services, such as GPs, dentists and dieticians.

Since the last inspection the provider had made improvements to the décor to support people living with a dementia. Decoration is ongoing to make further improvements.

The home employed an activities co-ordinator who organised activities both inside and outside of the home for people to enjoy.

Staff and people who used the service said the registered manager was supportive and approachable.

At the last inspection in December 2017 and January 2018, we identified a number of breaches in relation to staffing levels; safety of premises; staff training; person-centred care and governance.

At this inspection we identified three breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 in connection with medicines and premises safety, good governance issues and staff training. We also identified a breach in Regulation 18 of the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009, notification of other incidents. We are dealing with this matter outside of the inspection process.

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

Rating at last inspection:

Requires improvement (report published 12 April 2018).

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor the service through information we receive from the service, provider, the public and partnership agencies. We will re-visit the service in-line with our inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.