Aster Care

Updated 21 January 2022

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.

The service had been identified for use by the Local Authority as a designated care setting for people discharged from hospital with a positive COVID-19 status. This targeted inspection was to ensure that the service was compliant with infection prevention and control measures.

This inspection took place on 14 January 2022 and was announced. We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection.

Updated 21 January 2022

About the service

Aster Care is a care home which provides nursing and residential care for up to 102 people. The service supports younger people, older people and people with a learning disability. 25 people were using the service when we inspected.

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

Medicines were managed safely but we have made a recommendation about record keeping associated with medicines management. People and relatives said people were safe at the service. Risks to people were assessed and action taken to prevent them. Staffing levels were monitored and staff were safely recruited. Effective infection prevention and control systems were in place.

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.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right Support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

Based on our review of safe, effective and well-led the service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Right support:

• The model of care and setting maximises people’s choice, control and independence

Right care:

• Care is person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy and human

rights

Right culture:

• Ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives

Quality assurance systems were used to monitor and improve the service. People, relatives and staff said their feedback was sought and acted on. Effective working relationships were in place with external professionals and community groups.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 3 September 2021) and there were two 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.

Why we inspected

We undertook this focused inspection to check whether the conditions we imposed on the provider’s registration in relation to Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment) and Regulation 17 (Good governance) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 had been met, and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions of Safe, Effective and Well-led.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Aster Care on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.