Ashley Care

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

The service worked with people to provide care that was person centred and promoted people’s health wellbeing and independence. People were provided with nutrition and hydration to meet their needs. 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.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The registered manager told us people were fully assessed before they started using the service and this was regularly reviewed with them.

Care was person centred to enable staff to support people how they wished to be supported. One person said, “A member of staff came initially to do the first assessment and they do a review about every 6 months.” Another person said, “Staff come every few weeks to check everything is going well.”

Before people started using the service their care and support needs were discussed with them and their relatives. A person centred care package was then put in place and regularly reviewed. Staff had access to up-to-date information on people’s care, on the care planning application they used on their phones.

People shared mixed experiences on the support they received with food and hydration. Some negative comments were given on staff not really understanding what people wanted to eat or how to use household equipment like microwaves properly to heat food. Some people told us they were independent with their food. A relative told us staff were very good at getting their relative to have something to it when they often said they were not hungry. One person told us, “Staff help me with my breakfast and lunch, and I usually have a hot meal in the evening.”

Staff supported people to have the meals of their choice and supported people to have enough fluids during the day.

The registered manager told us they had done additional training with some staff to help them recognise how to best support people with eating and drinking. This included training staff on how to prepare certain meals and use kitchen appliances. Assessments were in place to help staff recognise the support people required and staff had undergone training to recognise if people were choking and how they could intervene. Where required the service worked with speech and language therapists to ensure people were receiving the correct support with their food and nutrition.

The registered manager had a team of staff with specific roles, the care manager ensured the service had capacity to take on care packages. When this was agreed a risk assessor saw the person and put together their initial assessment and a support plan was developed for staff to follow. The registered manager continued to liaise with other healthcare professionals such as occupational therapist and social workers to make any adjustments needed to people’s care package.

Staff had access to the information they needed to work with people, and where required helped them safely transition between healthcare teams. The registered manager told us they had developed good links with the hospital discharge team and palliative care team. Where appropriate staff supported people to attend health appointments.

The registered manager told us they helped people to attend medical appointments. Staff had also worked closely with the mental health team when they recognised a person’s mental state was deteriorating and they needed a review.

Staff had completed additional training on suicide awareness and some staff had completed training on becoming mental health first aiders so that they could identify when people needed further support. Staff were able to support people attend appointments and could raise any health concerns for further review where needed.

People were supported to access healthcare professionals to prevent deterioration and promote their independence. One person said, “My carer recognized I was unwell, and I ended up in hospital with an infection.”

People told us staff regularly met with them to review their care and support needs and gain their feedback on the service.

The registered manager had several systems in place to monitor outcomes and used this information to develop the service. For example, they monitored call times and the numbers of carers involved in people’s care. From this information they had developed targets outlining how many members of staff should be involved in a single care package. They also had targets in place to meet calls within 30 minutes of the agreed call time. From surveys they collected the registered manager looked at themes and trends to see where improvements were needed and could be made. They used this information in the form of action plans to continually drive improvements at the service.

The registered manager told us they had several systems in place to help them monitor outcomes for people. This included asking people for their feedback through meetings and telephone calls and the completion of surveys on their care experience.

Staff understood they needed to gain consent from people before they engaged in providing care.

The registered manager obtained signed consent from people or their next of kin when the care packages were agreed. Where relatives had lasting power of attorney in place over health and welfare the registered manager obtained a copy of this. Staff had received training on gaining consent and this was discussed with them during meetings and supervision.

People’s consent was obtained for their care and support needs. One person said, “I do feel that I'm in charge when carers are in my home. It's my body and carers never try to take over. They go at my pace.”