Ashmead Care Centre

Updated 21 September 2022

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

This inspection was carried out by two inspectors, an Expert by Experience and a Care Quality Commission (CQC) Specialist Advisor. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Ashmead Care Centre is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection took place on 09 and 11 August 2022 and was unannounced.

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 health 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. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke in person with the registered manager, regional manager and quality assurance team. We spoke with 23 people using the service, six relatives, 13 staff and three health care professionals to get their experience and views about the care provided. We reviewed a range of records. They included staff rotas, recruitment, training and supervision, people’s care and medicine records, risk assessments, care plans and reviews and a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits, quality assurance, policies and procedures.

Updated 21 September 2022

About the service

Ashmead Care Centre is a care home that provides nursing and personal care for up to 108 older people. At the time of our inspection there were 108 people using the service including those living with dementia. The care home accommodates people in six units, two on the ground floor, two on the first floor and two on the second floor.

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

The home was not always responsive to people’s activities needs. The home was updating the activity needs of people, had employed an activities co-ordinator and external training for staff was in place, although the current individual and group activities were not quite meeting people’s needs. The registered manager and staff regularly assessed and reviewed people’s care needs and updated their care plans accordingly. This included any communication needs. People were provided with person-centred care by staff who knew them and their preferences well. People were given choices, and encouraged to follow their routines, interests and maintain contact with friends and relatives to minimise social isolation. People and their relatives were given easy to understand information about the service to decide if they wanted to move in. Complaints were appropriately recorded, investigated and responded to.

People and their relatives said that the Ashmead Care Centre was a safe place to live and staff told us it was a safe place to work. People had any risks to them regularly assessed and reviewed. This meant they were able to take acceptable risks, enjoy their lives and live safely. Any accidents, incidents and safeguarding concerns were reported, investigated and recorded. There were enough appropriately recruited staff to meet people’s needs. Trained staff safely administered medicines. The home used Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) effectively and safely and the infection prevention and control policy were up to date.

The home had a management and leadership team that was transparent with a culture of openness, positivity and honesty. The provider’s vision and values were clearly set out, understood by staff and followed by them. Areas of responsibility and accountability were identified, and a good service maintained and reviewed. Audits were thorough and records kept up to date. Where possible community links and working partnerships were established and kept up to minimise social isolation. The provider met Care Quality Commission (CQC) registration requirements. Healthcare professionals told us that the service was well managed and met people’s needs in a professional, open and friendly way.

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

The last rating for this service was Good (published 19 September 2019). The overall rating for the service remains good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding.

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.

We did not inspect the key questions of effective and caring.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

Recommendations

We have made recommendations regarding the activities provided for people and how some areas of the home and mealtimes can be better used to enhance the experience of people using the service.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the Responsive section of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Ashmead Care Centre 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.