A Taunton care home specialising in personal care for people with physical disabilities and people with sensory impairments has been rated ‘good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), writes Emily Engleby.
Ash House on Bindon Road was given an overall rating of ‘good’ from the CQC following an inspection that took place between June 4 and 15.
The service, which was caring for 159 people at the time of the inspection, was rated ‘good’ in all categories: safe, effective, caring, responsive, and well-led.
Ash House provides a toenail cutting service for people in Somerset, which takes place within clinics or within their own home if the person is housebound.
The clinics were not included in the assessment.
The report, published on Thursday, July 9, found that for the house visit service “people’s needs were not always adequately assessed”.
However, the risks associated with this were reduced “as people’s toenails were cut by consistent staff who knew people very well” and “they demonstrated a good understanding of people’s needs and how to keep people safe”.
Furthermore, “people received care that reflected their individual needs and preferences” and “consent was sought prior to receiving the service and people were able to make decisions about when they received the toenail cutting service”.
Toenail Cutting Assistants (TNCA) told CQC that “they had received training and ongoing support from leaders to ensure they had the training and competence to carry out their roles safely and effectively”.
Additionally, the TNCA “spoke positively about the management and culture of the service” and they described “managers as approachable and supportive”.
Sharing their experiences of the service, relatives said that the service “had improved people’s mobility as their toenails were so long”.
People spoke positively about the TNCA saying that they are “quite a nice person to talk to” and they “phone the day before” to remind the people of their appointment.
The people liked that it was the same TNCA who came every time.
Share