Aspen Court Care Home

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture. At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained good. This meant the service was consistently managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality, person-centred care.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities. The provider had deployed their ‘turnaround manager’ to manage the service whilst they recruited a registered manager. The manager told us of the actions they were taking to foster a positive culture within the service. Since they had been in post, they had ensured staff were supported through the changes they had made to the day to day running of the service to improve systems and processes in place. Staff told us they felt supported by the new manager. One staff member told us, “[Manager] is open, she has gone out of her way to get things done, it’s been a challenge, but she shows us the right way to do things.” And another staff member told us, “There has been lots of improvements recently, things are better, staffing and communication have improved.

The provider had inclusive leaders at all levels who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. They did so with integrity, openness and honesty. We found the manager in post to be experienced and knowledgeable about delivering a safe and effective service. People and their relatives told us they knew who the manger was and felt confident they would act on any concerns they had. One relative told us, “I always speak to [manager] every time I come in. She is excellent. They immediately let me know if anything happens. She is very open, and her door is always open.” Staff confirmed they felt listened to and supported in their roles.

The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. The provider ensured staff had information about their whistleblowing and safeguarding procedures, these were discussed at induction and staff meetings. Staff understood these procedures and how to report any concerns they had. The provider also sent staff surveys to gather their feedback, we found the provider had analysed the results of these and provided staff with a ‘you said we did’ in response to the suggestions staff had made.

The provider valued diversity in their workforce. They worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them. The manager demonstrated how they valued staff by working closely with them to understand staff’s individual needs and by making reasonable adjustments to accommodate and support them in their work.

The provider had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. They used these to manage and deliver good quality, sustainable care, treatment and support. They acted on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, and shared this securely with others when appropriate. The provider and manager both had a good oversight of the service through the structured schedule of audits in place which included medicines, health and safety and people's care plans. In addition to this, the provider’s quality team also carried out regular audits of the service. We found that the findings of audits were shared with the wider staff team to drive improvements. Staff confirmed that positive changes had been made to their ways of working following improvements that had been implemented by the manager, such as how medicines were managed and how communication in the service had improved.

The provider understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services worked seamlessly for people. They shared information and learning with partners and collaborated for improvement. The manager told us how they worked closely with external professionals to meet people’s needs. We found effective partnership working was in place to support people to access appropriate healthcare. Records confirmed people regularly saw other professionals when needed including GP’s and speech and language therapists. Weekly ward rounds took place where the GP visited the home, reviewing people who had acute or ongoing health issues. The manager told how different organisations, and entertainment frequently visited the service. People told us they looked forward to the entertainment and enjoyed this.

The provider focused on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. We found effective systems and processes in place to ensure continuous learning and improvement, findings from audits, meetings and feedback received was recorded and analysed by the manager. We observed the morning meeting, where the different departments in the service attended and provided feedback to each other and the manager. Important information was shared in respect of people’s health and wellbeing. Regular staff meetings took place involving all staff. We reviewed the minutes of these meetings and found findings and learning from the managers overview of the service was shared with staff and they had the opportunity to make suggestions and feedback their experiences. We also found when incidents or accidents had occurred specific learning had taken place to understand the cause and what could be done differently to make improvements within the service.