Ash Lea House

Updated 14 July 2018

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.

This inspection took place on 17 May 2018 and was unannounced. It was completed by one inspector. We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return to plan the inspection. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We used a range of different methods to help us understand people’s experiences. People who lived at the home had varying levels of communication. We spoke with four people during the visit. We also observed the interaction between people and the staff who supported them in communal areas.

We spoke with the registered manager, deputy manager and three care staff and a social care professional. We reviewed care plans for four people to check that they were accurate and up to date. We also looked at the systems the provider had in place to ensure the quality of the service was continuously monitored and reviewed to drive improvement. We reviewed audits and quality checks for medicines management, accidents and incidents, and health and safety checks.

Updated 14 July 2018

Ash Lea House provides accommodation and personal care for up to 14 people with a learning disability. The home is situated on the outskirts of Alfreton and has good access to local shops and public amenities. There were 12 people living at the home on the day of our inspection.

We inspected this service on 17 May 2018. The inspection was unannounced. At our previous inspection on 3 February 2017 we rated the service as requires improvement. This was because we identified specific concerns with how safeguarding concerns were managed; how people were supported to maintain their health and how effective the quality monitoring systems were. The provider sent us an action plan which stated how and when they would make improvements to meet the legal requirements. On this inspection visit we saw improvements had been made.

There was a registered manager in post. 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.

People were now protected from the risks of abuse because staff understood where harm may have occurred and took action when people were at risk of harm. Staff supported people to understand any risks to prevent avoidable harm. Where people were concerned about their safety they knew who to speak with.

People kept their medicines in their bedroom and were helped to understand what their medicines were for. Staff knew why people needed medicines and when these should be taken. Staffing was organised flexibly to enable people to be involved with activities and do the things they enjoyed. People had opportunities to be involved with a variety of activities and could choose how to spend their time.

People had food and drink that they liked and specialist diets were catered for. People’s health and wellbeing needs were monitored and they were supported to attend health appointments and screening programmes as required.

People had positive relationships with the staff who were caring and treated them with respect and kindness. People liked the staff who supported them and had developed good relationships with them. People maintained relationships with their families and friends who were invited to join in activities with them.

There were plans in place which detailed people’s likes and dislikes and these were regularly reviewed. People knew how to raise a concern or make a complaint. Staff listened to people’s views about their care and they were able to influence the development of the service.

People were consulted regarding their preferences and interests and these were incorporated into their support plan to ensure they were supported to lead the life they wanted to. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. People made decisions about their care and staff helped them to understand the information they needed to make any decisions. Staff sought people’s consent before they provided care and they were helped to make decisions which were in their best interests. Where people’s liberty was restricted, this had been done lawfully to safeguard them.

The registered manager and provider understood their legal responsibilities and kept up to date with relevant changes. There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service to enable the registered manager and provider to drive improvement.