20 April 2022
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Ashfield House is a care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 25 people. The service is registered to support older people, people living with dementia, physical disabilities and sensory impairments. At the time of our inspection there were 21 people using the service.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Since our last inspection improvements had been made in how safeguarding concerns were reported to the appropriate authorities. Staff understood safeguarding and described how they would identify and report any concerns of possible abuse. Incidents and accidents were recorded and reviewed, and any measures put in place to prevent these from happening again.
On the day of our inspection the home was experiencing their first COVID-19 outbreak. This was being managed safely. Staff were wearing PPE appropriately for the task being carried out. Infection, control and prevention procedures had improved and helped to protect people from the risk of infection.
People’s medicines were managed and administered safely, and regular audits were completed.
People’s needs and choices had been assessed. Care provided was personalised and considered people’s preferences and wishes.
There was enough staff to meet people’s needs. Staff knew what was expected of them. Staff received appropriate training and support to enable them to perform their role safely and effectively.
People were supported to eat and drink enough to maintain a balanced diet. People’s dietary needs were met in accordance with their needs and preferences.
Staff recognised changes in people’s health, and sought professional advice appropriately.
Systems to asses, monitor and mitigate risks to people’s safety and well-being had improved. Improvements of the governance systems ensured better oversight of performance and quality. A range of audits were used to effectively monitor the service. Areas for improvement were identified and responded to so the service was continuously learning and developing.
People and their relatives were encouraged to provide feedback in the form of questionnaires. Information was used to drive through improvements.
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.
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 05 September 2019) and there were breaches of regulations. The provider sent us a monthly 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
The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about the quality of care and management of the service. We also wanted assurances the provider had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions safe, effective and well-led which contain those requirements.
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 changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe, effective and well-led sections of this full report.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Ashfield House on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.