Care home in Hornchurch bounces back after critical CQC report

A care home in Hornchurch has improved to be rated ‘good’, according to inspectors.

Ashgrove Residential Care Home in Billet Lane, Hornchurch was inspected on May 23 this year by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and their report has now been published.

The home provides accommodation and personal care to about 20 older people, with each floor consisting of separate adapted facilities.

The different parameters on which it was scored “good” included safety, effectiveness, caring, responsiveness and leadership.

The CQC report said safeguarding processes were in place at the care home to protect people from risk of abuse. The staff, it added, were “kind and caring towards people and had a good relationship with them”.

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The inspectors believed that residents received care and support that was “personalised for their needs” with “systems in place to respond to complaints”.

The latest comments come after the care home was said to ‘require improvement’ following an inspection in October 2021.

CQC then reported that “robust quality assurance systems were not in place (at the care home) to identify shortfalls we found with risk assessments, infection control, need for consent and staff training and support”.

In July last year, CQC did a follow-up check and noted that the management had addressed some of the shortfalls.

The report said “quality assurance systems were in place to identify shortfalls and take prompt actions to ensure people were safe.”

The rating has now been upgraded after the May inspection.

The care home’s manager, Tajá Rosie Young, told the Recorder that this improvement was made possible after they invested “significantly” in the training and development programmes for staff to ensure they had the right expertise.

She added: “A key aspect of this initiative was to empower the staff with specialised training in areas such as dementia care, medication management, and safeguarding vulnerable adults.”

The care home also carried out “extensive renovations” to “create modern, accessible spaces that catered to the specific needs of the elderly residents”.

Ms Young said: “The staff were encouraged to build meaningful relationships with residents, getting to know their individual preferences, interests, and needs.”