Ashwood Care Leigh

Updated 16 October 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. 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

The inspection was carried out by one inspector on the first two days of the inspection, and by a second inspector on the third day of the inspection.

Service and service type

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

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

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 20 August 2019 and ended on 22 August 2019. We visited the office location on 20 and 21 August 2019 to see the manager and office staff; to review care records and policies and procedures and to speak to care staff. We visited three people who used the service and their relatives on 20 and 21 August 2019 to seek their feedback and opinions of the service provided and spoke to people who used the service and their relatives by telephone on 22 August 2019.

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 the 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.

During the inspection

We spoke with 11 people who used the service and nine relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with the registered manager, the operations manager, the training manager and six members of care staff.

We reviewed a range of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures, audits and governance records. We looked at 11 people’s care records and medication records. We looked at five staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision.

Updated 16 October 2019

About the service

Ashwood Care is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to 137 people living in their own houses and flats in the community and specialist housing at the time of the inspection. It provides a service to older adults, younger adults and people with dementia, mental health conditions, sensory impairments and physical disabilities.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. 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.

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

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 supported by a small group of regular staff which provided continuity and familiarity and people’s comments confirmed this approach. Staff had developed relationships with people and knew them well; people received person-centred care as a result.

Staff supported some people to access other healthcare professionals when required. Staff supported a small number of people to manage their medicines safely.

People were supported in a friendly and respectful way. People and their relatives were complimentary about the staff and their caring attitude.

Systems were in place to recruit staff safely; there were sufficient numbers of trained staff to support people safely. Recruitment processes were robust and helped to ensure staff were of suitable character and had relevant experience to work with vulnerable people.

Staff had awareness of safeguarding and knew how to raise concerns. Steps were taken to minimise risk where possible.

Staff promoted people's independence and treated them with dignity and respect. People were involved in making decisions about their care and involved in reviews to ensure their care plans met their needs and supported them to achieve outcomes. Staff supported some people to access the community.

People’s needs were comprehensively assessed before starting with the service; people and their relatives, where appropriate, had been involved in the care planning process.

Staff were competent and had the skills and knowledge to enable them to support people safely and effectively. Staff received the training and support they needed to carry out their roles effectively and received regular supervisions and annual appraisals; this was confirmed by staff we spoke with.

People’s care plans were person-centred, and outcome focussed and provided staff with the information they needed to provide care and support in a way that met people’s needs and preferences. There was evidence that care plans were reviewed regularly or as people’s needs changed.

People knew how to make a complaint. There was an effective complaints process in place to deal with any complaints that might be raised in the future.

The registered manager and staff were committed to providing high quality care and support for people.

The service had an open and supportive culture. Systems were in place to monitor the quality and safety of care delivered. There was evidence of improvement and learning from any actions identified.

The provider and registered manager followed governance systems which provided effective oversight and monitoring of the service.

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 01 October 2018) and there were two breaches 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 improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

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 re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.