About the service Ashfield House is a residential care home providing personal care to eight people living with a learning disability, autism or mental health needs at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to eight people across two buildings, one main residence and a bungalow attached to this for people who wish to be supported more independently.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Quality assurance tools at the service had not consistently identified areas that required improvement and ensured these had been implemented effectively.
People were supported by trained staff who had been recruited safely. People were supported to receive their medicines as they were prescribed. People were supported in line with government guidance around COVID-19.
People were supported by sufficient staff to meet their needs in a timely and flexible way. People had access to their local community and could engage in activities of their choosing.
People were involved in their care planning to enable them to make choices in their care. People were encouraged to maximise their independence and living skills.
People were supported by staff who understood their communication needs and were meeting these. People knew who the management team were at the service and felt able to give feedback about their care.
We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and autistic people.
The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture as the model of care and setting maximised people’s choice, control and independence.
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 requires improvement (published 24 December 2019).
Why we inspected
The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about safeguarding, the quality of care provided at the home and infection prevention and control. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, responsive and well-led only.
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 coronavirus and other infection outbreaks effectively.
We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.
We have found evidence that the provider had made significant improvements to the culture and quality of care within the home. However, improvements were ongoing in relation to quality monitoring and oversight. Please see the well led sections of this full report.
The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
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.