What the CQC found at Asher Nursing Home

Inspectors saw staff being kind and caring when helping people make everyday choices. People also spoke positively about staff support.

“We saw staff interact with people in a kind and caring manner when helping them to make choices about their day-to-day care, such as what drink they would like to have.” from the report

The home worked with mental health teams, community nurses, GPs and other professionals. Referrals were made where people needed extra healthcare support.

“Staff worked with external agencies to support people with their healthcare needs.” from the report

The home carried out relevant pre-employment checks, including criminal record checks. Nursing staff registration checks had also been completed.

“The provider had appropriate recruitment processes in place and relevant pre-employment checks were made.” from the report

Staff usually respected privacy during personal care and supported people to be independent with tasks they could do.

“Staff respected people's privacy, for example by ensuring bathroom or bedroom doors were closed when they provided personal care to people.” from the report

People smoked in bedrooms, but there were no proper risk assessments or plans to reduce the danger. The fire risk assessment contained inaccurate information, and emollient creams had not been assessed alongside smoking risks.

“This put people at unnecessary risk of fire.” from the report

Accidents and possible abuse were not consistently recorded, investigated or reported to the relevant agencies. This meant the home could not show that people were protected from further harm.

“We could not be assured that the relevant agencies had been alerted to all concerns to enable full and thorough investigations.” from the report

Care plans and risk assessments were missing, inaccurate or out of date. This made it harder for staff, especially agency staff, to understand people's needs and provide safe, personalised care.

“Information provided for staff was confusing and contradictory.” from the report

Some bedrooms were unhygienic, with rotting food and fruit flies. Beds did not always have sheets, mattresses were not routinely cleaned and staff did not always use protective equipment correctly.

“A number of the rooms we observed were significantly unhygienic with rotting food items and fruit flies evident.” from the report

Inspectors found little meaningful activity. People said they were bored, and the home was not providing enough opportunities linked to their interests.

“There were no structured activities provided for people to motivate and engage with them to do the things they enjoyed.” from the report

Quality checks did not lead to reliable improvements. Staff did not receive regular supervision, meetings were inconsistent and there was no clear improvement plan.

“The governance processes in place were ineffective and risks to people and staff were not being mitigated.” from the report