Enter and view: Ashcroft care home

Healthwatch Derbyshire conducted an enter and view visit on Ashcroft care home, a privately run residential home supporting people requiring specialist dementia care, and for residents who are physically frail and/or have complex health needs. The home can provide support for 30 residents.

The visit was arranged as Healthwatch Derbyshire invited local health and social care organisations to nominate services where an Enter & View was considered suitable and would benefit both the service and the provider and/or commissioner of that service, and Hardwick Clinical Commissioning Group nominated this service.

Observation by the Enter and View representatives reported that due to the complexity of needs of all the residents, they we were advised that is was unlikely any residents would be able to engage in an interview, although one resident was able to be interviewed briefly. Good practice observed included:

- Welcoming and friendly atmosphere

- Good relationships and interactions between staff and residents

- Positive comments from visiting relative

- Dedicated activities coordinator in post.

The report contains 14 recommendations, including;

- To consider the re-positioning of the home’s external signage to make it more readily visible from a distance

- To consider how the ground floor view of the garden can be improved by possible re-design of the fencing

- To review the need for an effective hearing loop system according to the needs of the residents

The report includes a response from the service provider.