Enter and View: Ashby House

The purpose of this Enter and View programme was to engage with residents, their relatives, or carers, to explore their overall experience of living in Ashby House care home. As well as building a picture of their general experience, we asked about experiences in relation to social isolation and physical activity.

Summary

Ashby House care home is a purpose built on a single level and is registered to provide nursing and personal care for up to 64 residents. The home has three discrete care units: general residential, nursing care, and advanced dementia with each unit having its own lounge and dining areas.

What we found:

We received some conflicting comments regarding nursing/dementia care; some very complimentary some less so.

"Have had other residents entering the bedroom, even trying to get into bed, just not acceptable."

“I don’t get my incontinence pads changed often enough, once a day is not good enough – I would prefer to use the commode but have difficulty walking unaided."

“Staff work their socks off – they are short of carers - the carers say so. They can't get the staff - low pay etc.”

Recommendations included:

• Consider reviewing methods of communication with relatives; follow-up communications after GP visits, and resolution communications following complaints and queries, as the current process has left many relatives wondering what actions have been taken.
• As ‘roaming’ residents have been mentioned in previous reports, we would suggest approaching the MK Council Care Home Liaison to provide support to staff in reducing challenging behaviours and their impacts on other residents.
• As part of Ashby House’s holistic care provision, we recommend inviting some of the mobile health services, such as optometrists, to make regular visits to the Home.
• Consider ways of alleviating isolation for those residents that have mobility issues, more one to one time with care staff, more time in group situations, enlist the help of volunteer groups such as befriending services to sit and talk with residents.
• Explore the possibility for more varied menu options, many residents don’t feel a meat or vegetarian option to be a choice and the menu itself is repeated quite often.