Ashridge Court Care Centre

Ashridge Court Care Centre is operated by two companies: Ashridge Court LtdandVentas Opco UK Limited.These two companies have a dual registration and are jointly responsible for the services at the home.

We undertook this comprehensive inspection due to the age of the rating. Ashridge Court Care Centre was last inspected in February 2021 and rated Good. At this inspection the rating has changed to requires Improvement. Due to the immediate actions taken by the provider risk to peoples’ health, safety and well-being were mitigated.

People’s safety and well-being had not been consistently considered, as there were not sufficient staff deployed to meet peoples’ individual needs. Therefore, risk had not been managed pro-actively. For example, people remained in bed because of time constraints and people whose health had deteriorated had not received the care necessary. The provider immediately responded by increasing staff numbers and reviewing the deployment of staff. This will be on-going with senior management oversight.

The governance and overview of processes had not fully ensured safe and consistent care. Feedback from staff and families regarding staffing levels had not been escalated and had resulted in staff feeling under pressure, stressed and low morale within the staff team. Staff had not felt supported or listened to. The in-house audits and governance systems were not consistently robust and had not identified all the shortfalls found and discussed during the inspection process. Such as cleanliness of clinical areas and equipment used for people. Staff training and supervision did have some gaps of up to 6 and 8 months identified. Training and supervisions have been taken forward as a priority.

Records of lessons learned following incidents lacked clear actions taken to prevent further occurrences and the impact of incidents not clearly reflected. Staff had not felt the management team were visible or approachable, and there were missed opportunities for staff and management to discuss incidents or areas for improvement within the home to ensure lessons were learnt.

The provider had liaised with external health professionals to provide joined up care and treatment for people. This had promoted safe transitions for people moving between different services. People received care from staff who had been recruited safely. People enjoyed their meals and were supported by staff to follow a healthy lifestyle. Staff treated people with kindness and compassion, despite time constraints the staff team were very supportive of each other. Care plans and risk assessments were person centred and the activity team provided activities suited to people’s interests. More people were seen to participate following the introduction of extra staff during the inspection process.