Background to this inspection
Updated
16 March 2016
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
This comprehensive inspection took place on 10,11 and 12 February 2016 and was unannounced. One CQC inspector visited the home on each day.
Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service. This included information about incidents the provider had notified us of. We also asked the local authority who commissions the service for their views on the care and service given by the home.
During the three day inspection we met and spoke with four of the people living at Abbotsford. We also spoke with the manager and five support workers, one of whom was a team leader and a visiting relative. Following the inspection visit we spoke with a further two people’s relatives.
We observed how people were supported in communal areas and looked at three people’s care, treatment and support records. We also looked at records relating to the management of the service including staffing rota’s, staff recruitment and training records, policies, premises maintenance records, staff meeting minutes, quality monitoring reports and medicine administration records (MARs).
Updated
16 March 2016
This unannounced comprehensive inspection took place on 10, 11 and 12 February 2016.
Abbotsford is a care home registered to accommodate a maximum of eight people with learning disabilities. At the time of the inspection eight people were living at the home.
There was a registered manager employed at the home. 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.’
We received very positive feedback from people and their relatives regarding living at Abbotsford. Relatives said, “It’s absolutely marvellous”.
People told us they felt safe at the home. Staff spoke knowledgeably on how to prevent, identify and report abuse and the provider had a system in place to protect people from the risk of harm.
People’s needs were assessed and they were actively involved in planning and reviewing their care needs. We observed people sought staff out to chat and talk to and staff and people were relaxed with each other and spent time chatting and spending quality time with each other. Staff were knowledgeable about people’s needs and knew how people preferred to be supported.
Staff supported people in accordance with their wishes, protecting people’s privacy and maintaining their dignity.
Staff told us they received training, which they found useful and effective. Staff received detailed, regular supervision sessions but had not received an annual appraisal during 2015. This was an area for improvement for the provider.
There were robust recruitment systems in place and staff told us they felt very well supported to carry out their role.
People’s medicines were securely stored and managed and people were supported to take their prescribed medicines appropriately.
People were supported to take part in a wide range of activities, hobbies and work placements to maintain their independence and promote a healthy lifestyle. People could choose where they spent their time.
Complaint forms were available in the home in an ‘easy read’ format for people to use if they wanted to express a concern. People said they would be happy to raise any issues with any members of staff and felt they would be taken seriously and listened to.
People told us they felt the service was well led, with a clear management structure in place.
The provider was developing a revised quality assurance system to monitor and improve the quality of the service provided.