Archived: Ashcroft Nursing Home - Chesterfield

Updated 31 July 2015

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, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

We visited the home on 4 December 2014. Our visit was unannounced and the inspection team consisted of two inspectors and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of service.

Before this inspection, we looked at all of the key information we held about the service. This included notifications the provider had sent us. A notification is information about important events, which the provider is required to send us by law. We also spoke with local health and care commissioners responsible for contracting and monitoring people’s care at the home.

During our inspection we spoke with eight people who lived in the home, seven relatives and one visiting health professional. We also spoke with the registered manager, eight nursing and care staff; the cook and a senior manager for the registered provider. We observed how staff provided people’s care and support in communal areas and we looked at five people’s care records and other records relating to how the home was managed.

As many people at Ashcroft Nursing Home were living with dementia, we used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a specific way of observing care to help us understand the experiences of people who could not talk with us.

Updated 31 July 2015

This inspection took place on 4 December 2014 and was unannounced.

Accommodation and personal care, is provided at this Ashcroft Nursing Home for up to 42 older adults with dementia care needs. At our visit, 37 people were living in the home. There was a registered manager at this service. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons.’ Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

At our last inspection of this service in March 2014, we found that the provider did not always have appropriate arrangements in place for dealing with emergencies and obtaining people’s consent to their care. These were breaches of Regulations 18 and 9 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010. The provider told us about the action they were taking to address this and at this inspection we found that the required improvements had been made.

At this inspection people’s relatives, staff and a visiting health professional were confident that people received safe and appropriate care and were all confident to raise concerns about this if they needed to. People’s care, safety and dependency needs were regularly checked to inform staff planning and deployment. Emergency and staff recruitment procedures were robust.

Staff understood and followed the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to obtain people’s consent or appropriate authorisation for their care. People were safely supported by staff who received the training and supervision they needed to provide people’s care. Potential or known risks to people’s safety were identified before they received care and were regularly reviewed. People’s medicines were safely managed and action was taken to mitigate any identified risks to people’s safety from their health needs through robust care planning.

Staff consulted with external health professionals and followed their advice for people’s health needs when required. People were safely supported to eat and drink and they received adequate nutrition. People’s health and nutritional status was regularly checked. There were plans to review the use of aids and equipment to optimise people’s independence at mealtimes. Staff received the information, training and supervision they needed to perform their roles and responsibilities. Improvements were being made to develop and tailor people’s dementia care through staff training.

Staff, were caring and compassionate. They responded promptly when people needed their assistance and they treated people with respect and maintained their dignity, privacy and independence. People and their relatives were all appreciative of and appropriately involved and informed in the care provided, which met with people’s individual needs and wishes.

People and their representatives knew how to raise any concerns or complaints about the care provided and were confident that these would be listened to and acted on. Findings from these were used to improve people’s experience of their care and daily living arrangements when required.

Staff supported people to interact and engage with others and to participate in social, occupational and recreational activities. This was being done in a way that met with recognised practice concerned with dementia care. Staff, were motivated to deliver people’s care in this way because it helped to inform their understanding of people’s dementia care experience and related care needs.

The home was well managed. People, relatives and staff, were all very positive about the management of the home and the on-going improvements made to people’s care during the previous six months. The quality and safety of people’s care, was regularly checked and the findings were acted on when required. Records were robust and safely stored. The provider had notified us when important events occurred in the service when required.

Staff understood their roles and responsibilities and they were regularly asked for their views about people’s care. They knew how to raise any concerns about this and communicate changes about people’s needs when required.