This unannounced inspection took place on 20 December 2016 and 4 January 2017. Aashna House Residential Care Home provides accommodation and personal care for up to 37 people. The service provides culturally appropriate services for older people who wish to lead an Asian lifestyle. At the time of this inspection the service was providing support to 35 people.

Aashna House Residential Care Home was last inspected on 8 May 2014. The service met all the regulations inspected at that time.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People were safe at the service. Staff knew how to identify and report any concerns of abuse to help keep people safe. Assessments were carried out on risks to people’s needs and their well-being. Staff had sufficient guidance to manage identified risks appropriately and without restricting people’s freedom.

Staff followed the procedure on incident and accident reporting to ensure people were protected from the risk of avoidable harm. People were supported to take their medicines in a safe and timely manner by competent staff. Medicines were stored, recorded and disposed of safely and appropriately.

Staff had the relevant knowledge and skills to support people. Staff received regular supervision and appraisal meetings to monitor their performance and professional development. Staff used feedback from these meetings to improve their practice. Staff received on-going training to enable them meet people’s needs. The provider safely recruited staff and involved people in the selection and recruitment process. There were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs. An appropriate skills mix enabled staff who shared similar cultural backgrounds and conversed using the main four languages spoken at the service including Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati and Hindi to support people effectively.

People received appropriate support to make decisions relating to their care in line with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. People were asked for their consent before they received care.

People had sufficient food to eat and drink. Staff supported people to plan their meals and took into account their cultural and religious preferences. People enjoyed the meals provided at the service. Staff respected people’s religious and cultural beliefs when preparing their food. People received specialist advice about nutrition from healthcare professionals when needed. People accessed healthcare services and had regular reviews of their health.

People were happy with the support and care they received. People and their relatives had positive relationships with staff. People were supported to develop their daily living skills and to live an active life. Staff were respectful of people’s privacy and dignity. People were treated with kindness and respect.

People and their relatives where appropriate were involved in planning people’s care and support. Care plans were personalised. People’s language and cultural needs were met. People were supported by staff who understood their health conditions and related risks. Support plans were in place to guide staff on how to meet people’s needs.

People were encouraged to give their views about the quality of care. The registered manager used their feedback to develop the service.

People and their relatives understood how to raise a complaint. They had access to the complaints procedure in languages they could understand. The registered manager had investigated and resolved complaints in line with the provider’s complaints procedure.

People and their relatives said the registered manager was approachable.

One inspector visited the service, our visit was unannounced. During our visit we gathered evidence to answer our five questions; Is the service caring? Is the service responsive? Is the service safe? Is the service effective? Is the service well led?

Below is a summary of what we found. The summary describes what we observed, the records we looked at and what people using the service, their relatives and the staff and two healthcare professionals told us about the service. If you want to see the evidence supporting our summary please read the full report.

Is the service safe?

Staff had been trained in safeguarding vulnerable adults and were aware of how to report concerns about people's safety. Discussions had been held with people who lived at the service about keeping safe and their right to be protected from harm. People told us they felt safe and they believed, "there are no bad people in this home." They said they would inform the manager, staff or relatives if they felt they or others were at risk, and they believed action would be taken.

Is the service effective?

The service addressed people's needs effectively and involved specialists to ensure they were fully informed about how to meet people's particular needs. For example they involved specialists in particular health conditions, such as diabetes, to make sure that their care met the best current practice.

Care records, discussions with people and health professionals confirmed that the staff team was knowledgeable and effective in meeting people's needs. We heard how some people's conditions had improved since coming to live at Aashna House.

Is the service caring?

We observed interaction between staff and people living at the service. They spoke to people in a kindly, patient and respectful way. People who lived at Aashna House described staff as, "kind" and "caring."

Is the service responsive to people's needs?

The service provided a specialist service which responded to the cultural, linguistic and religious needs of the people who lived there, as well as their social and physical needs. People were pleased to be part of the service which understood the range of their needs and responded appropriately to them. Several people told us, "they look after us well."

Is the service well-led?

The service was well led. The manager of the service is knowledgeable and experienced. There were systems in place to ensure that the service provided good quality care which took into account health and safety and people's views. The provider carried out checks on the quality of the service. Staff were well trained and supported in their roles. .

We spoke with ten people who lived at the service and with their visitors, staff and managers at Aashna House.

People told us they were satisfied with the care they received at Aashna House. We were told that the staff were respectful, caring and helpful. Comments we received included "I like being able to speak my language with staff." Several people commented on the quality of the food saying that they enjoyed it and had plenty of choice at meal times.

A visitor told us that it was important to them that their relative was provided with care that "fitted with their culture, their language and religion". Another visitor told us they felt the home was "a high quality and caring place" where staff understood the needs of the people who lived there.

Staff told us they were happy in their work, felt supported and were provided with appropriate training to help them in their roles.

People told us if they had concerns they would feel confident to raise them with the manager at the service.

We met with five of the group of people who lived at the house and with the staff from the service. We also had the opportunity to meet with a visitor who told us that they were very happy with the service that was provided .

We were told that the house is, "A pleasant place to live in" and staff told us that they enjoyed working there.

We saw that people were given choices, they were respected and well cared for.

We saw that the staff who were on duty were skilled and experienced.