Aston Court Care Home

Updated 17 January 2023

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.

As part of this inspection, we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was undertaken by 2 inspectors.

Service and service type

Aston Court is a 'care home'. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. Aston Court is a care home with nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

The registered manager was not available during our inspection. A support manager, a quality assurance manager, a regional manager and a managing director, however, were available to respond to questions we asked and to provide us with information we requested.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since our last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in their last provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We contacted the local authority for feedback on the home. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We looked at the premises including bedrooms, lounges, dining areas, bathrooms, the laundry, and the medicine room.

We spoke with 8 people who used the service, 3 relatives (2 by telephone), 8 members of staff including care staff, a nurse, a hostess, and 4 managers. We also spoke with a visiting health care professional. We did this to gain people's views about the care and to check standards of care were being met.

We reviewed a range of records, including 3 people's care records, to see how their care and support was planned and delivered. We looked at medicine systems and a selection of medicine records. We also looked at records related to how the service operated and was managed and reviewed 3 staff files to check if staff had been recruited safely.

Updated 17 January 2023

About the service

Aston Court Care Home is a nursing home providing accommodation (over two floors) and nursing and personal care to a maximum of 52 older adults. At the time of our inspection 37 people lived at the home some of whom experienced dementia.

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

Staffing did not always meet people’s needs in a timely manner.

Governance systems were not entirely effective as they had not identified all issues found at this inspection.

The home was visibly clean but some improvements were required in relation to the maintenance of bathrooms.

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.

People were treated with kindness and respect and their independence and privacy were promoted.

The management team welcomed our inspection and understood the need to be open and honest about things that required improvement.

For more information, please read the detailed findings section of this report. If you are reading this as a separate summary, the full report can be found on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 28/03/2020) and there was a breach of regulations. 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 the provider remained in breach of that regulation and we found a further breach.

We will describe what we will do about the repeat 'Requires Improvement' rating in the follow up section below.

Why we inspected

This inspection was to review our findings from our previous inspection.

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.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has remained requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 28/03/2020). The service remains rated requires improvement. This service has been rated requires improvement for the last two consecutive inspections.

We have found a repeated breach in relation to good governance risk management at this inspection and one other breach relating to staffing. Please see the Safe and Well-led sections of this full report. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

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

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.