Ashgrove Care Home - London

The following is CQC's published account of its assessment, published 26 June 2025. References to “we” mean CQC. It describes findings at that time.

Ashgrove Care Home is a ‘care home’ with nursing for up to 49 older people. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises, and the care provided, and both were looked at during this assessment. At the time of our assessment, 44 people were living at the service.

Date of assessment: 20 May 2025

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 14 April 2023) and we identified breaches of regulations relating to safe care and treatment and good governance. The provider completed an action plan telling us how and when they would make improvements.

This assessment was conducted to follow up on this action plan. We found continuing concerns in some areas and new breaches were identified. The rating for the service has remained requires improvement. The provider continued to be in breach of legal regulation relating to good governance. We identified a new breach of legal regulations relating to dignity and respect. The provider had improved the safe care and treatment of people and was no longer in breach of this regulation. However, further improvements were needed to maintain safe standards.

During our assessment of the service, we observed care and support which did not respect people’s individual needs or wishes. At times, staff ignored people’s requests, choices and need for information.

The provider’s systems and processes for monitoring quality and mitigating risk were not always effective. This meant people were sometimes exposed to risks to their health and well-being and did not always receive good quality care.

The provider’s systems for maintaining accurate and complete records were not always effective. People’s care needs and risks to their safety had not always been assessed or planned for. Information about these needs and how they should be met was sometimes incomplete and was not personalised. In some cases, the provider had failed to recognise and provide guidance to staff about people’s specific communications needs.

There were systems for learning from things that went wrong. However, the provider did not always use these effectively to plan improvements to people’s care and support.

There were enough staff employed. However, the provider’s systems had not ensured staff were being deployed effectively to meet people’s needs and keep them safe.

Staff worked with external professionals to assess, monitor and meet people’s healthcare needs. As a result, people’s health had improved. People’s nutritional needs were planned for, and they were offered a choice of nutritious food and drink.

The provider’s recruitment processes ensured checks were made on the suitability of staff. Staff undertook a range of training. They had the guidance and information they needed for their roles. Staff felt well supported.

The registered manager worked with senior managers within the organisation. They worked closely with other stakeholders. Following our visit to the service, the management team developed and started working on an improvement plan to address the areas of concern we had identified.