Bridlington

Updated 25 May 2023

The inspection

We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.

Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people using the service and staff.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by 1 inspector and 2 Experts by Experience.

An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was to ensure the registered manager was available to support us with the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 28 April 2023 and ended on 3 May 2023. We made phone calls to people using the service and their relatives on 3 May 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used technology such as video calls to enable us to engage with staff, and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation.’ The assessment was carried out 28 April 2023 to 3 May 2023.

We spoke with 14 people who use the service, 6 relatives, 12 care staff and the registered manager.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 4 peoples care records and medication records. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment and supervision. We reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service.

Updated 25 May 2023

About the service

A & B Healthcare Limited – Bridlington is a domiciliary care service providing personal care for people who are living with dementia, mental health conditions, physical disability, sensory impairment, older people, younger adults and people with a learning disability and/or autism in their own home. At the time of our inspection 113 people received support from the service.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance Care Quality Commission (CQC) follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right Support:

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Staff communicated with people in ways that met their needs. People were supported to take part in activities and staff promoted independence. Staff wore personal protective equipment (PPE) appropriately which helped to protect people from the risk of infection. Medicines were managed safely.

Right Care:

Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. There were enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. Care plans were detailed and person-centred and provided clear guidance to staff on how to care for people effectively. Care plans were regularly reviewed and updated when required. Staff assessed people’s risks appropriately and encouraged and enabled people to take positive risks.

Right Culture:

People and their relatives told us the management and staff were approachable and knowledgeable. Regular audits carried out helped improve the service when needed. Staff told us they enjoyed their job and making a positive difference to someone’s life. People and those important to them were involved in planning their care and staff evaluated the quality of care supported to people, involving the person, their families, and other professionals as appropriate.

This was an ‘inspection using remote technology’. This means we did not visit the office location and instead used technology such as electronic file sharing to gather information, and video and phone calls to engage with people using the service as part of this performance review and assessment.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 18 February 2020).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service remains good based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for A & B Healthcare Limited – Bridlington on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.