Archived: Ashurst Park Care Home

Updated 24 October 2019

The inspection

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 registered persons were 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.

Inspection team:

The inspection was completed by an inspector and a specialist professional advisor who was a nurse.

Service and service type

Ashurst Park Care Home is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means 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

The first day of the inspection was unannounced and the second day was announced.

What we did before the inspection

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 information the provider sent us in the 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 used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 10 people living in the service using sign-assisted language when necessary.

We spoke with three nurses, five care staff, a senior member of care staff, two activities coordinators, the maintenance manager and the head housekeeper. We also spoke with the deputy manager, registered manager, two residential support managers and the regional manager.

We reviewed documents and records that described how care had been planned, delivered and evaluated for 10 people.

We examined documents and records relating to how the service was run. This included health and safety, the management of medicines and staff training and recruitment. We also looked at documents relating to learning lessons when things had gone wrong, obtaining consent and the management of complaints.

We reviewed the systems and processes used by the registered persons to assess, monitor and evaluate the service.

In addition, 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 cannot talk with us.

Updated 24 October 2019

About the service

Ashurst Park Care Home is a residential care home with nursing for 53 older people.

At the time of this inspection there were 47 people living in the service. Some people lived with dementia and had special communication needs.

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

People and their relatives were positive about the service. A person said, “The staff here are very good and all of them are kind to me.” Another person smiled and pointed in the direction of their bedroom when we used signed-assisted language to ask them about their home. A relative said, "In general, we’re lucky to have a good home near to us and I know mum is safe here.”

People were safeguarded from the risk of abuse. People received safe care and treatment in line with national guidance from nurses and care staff who had the knowledge and skills they needed. There were enough nurses and care staff on duty and safe recruitment practices were in place. People were supported to take medicines safely and lessons had been learned when things had gone wrong. Good standards of hygiene were maintained and people had been helped to quickly receive medical attention when necessary.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and care staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

The accommodation was well maintained, people’s privacy was respected and confidential information was kept private.

People were consulted about their care, given information in an accessible way and supported to pursue their hobbies and interests. Complaints were quickly resolved and people were treated with compassion at the end of their lives so they had a dignified death.

Quality checks were completed and people had been consulted about the development of the service. Good team work was promoted, regulatory requirements had been met and joint working was promoted.

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

Rating at last inspection

The service was rated good at our last inspection (published 27 January 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our reinspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.