Ashmore Nursing Home

Improvements are needed to staffing levels, and we identified a continued breach of the legal regulations in relation to staffing. People and their relatives raised concerns with us about low staffing levels and described how the levels of staff impacted on the quality of care and safety of people.

Shortfalls in staffing were acknowledged by the registered manager but as a short-term issue and they assured us that some staff appointments had been made. However, this was identified as an issue at the previous inspection and has not been fully resolved.

Whilst some improvements have been made to the oversight and management of clinical risks, we identified safety issues in the environment. Once we raised this with the registered manager, they told us that action would be taken, however we were not assured that learning in creating a culture of safety had been embedded.

Care plans and risk assessment tools were in place however, there was a need for greater transition planning to support new residents, particularly those people who were experiencing distress and low mood.

Staff had undertaken training in safeguarding, and we saw examples where the registered manager had worked with the safeguarding team to investigate and address concerns.

Medicine practice had improved overall, and people told us that they received their medicines when they needed them. However, we identified some areas of concern, and the service did not always have effective oversight systems in place to identify issues independently.

We assessed 1 quality statement from this key question.

People were supported by a kind and caring staff team. Care plans outlined people’s care preferences and staff endeavoured to provide the care people needed however shortfalls in staff impacted on their ability to do this.

We assessed 1 quality statement from this key question.

People and their relatives were involved in care planning and care plans were person centred. People were supported to access medical care when they needed to. There was no evidence of any discrimination but those people who spent all their time in their room had less opportunities for social engagement.

The service did not have an effective quality assurance system which meant that shortfalls were not always identified or addressed promptly. Issues were identified at the last inspection and while some improvements have been made, the provider remains in breach of the regulations in relation to good governance. Despite the concerns about the impact of low staffing, people and relatives told us that staff were kind, and the registered manager tried to resolve issues on an individual basis.