AN Ashburton care home has been placed in special measures after it was given an ‘Inadequate’ rating in an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.

Under four out of five overview headings Ashburton House, in West Street, received an inadequate rating. These were for safety, effectiveness, responsiveness and well-led. The home received a Requires Improvement rating for caring.

The CQC reports that the inspection was ‘prompted in part by a notification of an incident where a person using the service had died following a fall.

‘During the inspection, we found known risks were not well assessed, monitored or managed which put people at risk of harm.’

The inspectors report: ‘The information CQC received about the incident indicated concerns about the management of risk for people who fell and for people living with dementia who were independently mobile. This inspection examined those risks.

‘We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements.’

‘The overall rating for this service is ‘Inadequate’ and the service is therefore in ‘special measures’.

‘This means we will keep the service under review and, if we do not propose to cancel the provider’s registration, we will re-inspect within six months to check for significant improvements.

‘If the provider has not made enough improvement within this timeframe. And there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall rating, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures. This will mean we will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service.

‘This will usually lead to cancellation of their registration or to varying the conditions the registration.

‘For adult social care services, the maximum time for being in special measures will usually be no more than 12 months. If the service has demonstrated improvements when we inspect it. And it is no longer rated as inadequate for any of the five key questions it will no longer be in special measures.’

Ashburton House is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care to up to 24 people. The service provides support to older people, including people who are living with dementia. At the time of the inspection there were 23 people using the service.

This service was registered with the CQC on October 6, 2021, and this was the first inspection. The last rating for the service under the previous provider was ‘Good’ published on August 11, 2017.

The report adds: ‘At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post. However, they have since resigned. Since the inspection a new manager has been recruited to support improvements at the service.’

The home has been approached for comment.