Acorns Health Care

Updated 25 April 2024

Date of assessment 14 May to 28 May 2024. Acorns Health Care provides care and support to people living in their own home and in a 'supported living' setting, so that they can live as independently as possible. Not everyone using Acorns Health Care receives the regulated activity ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where people receive personal care, we also consider any wider social care provided. There were 32 people being supported with the regulated activity. A responsive assessment took place in response to concerns we had received relating to safeguarding, staffing and meeting people’s needs. We found breaches of the legal regulations in relation to safeguarding and governance. 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 providers must have regard to. The provider did not always meet the requirements of this guidance. They were not able to evidence the correct legal process had been followed where restrictions had been placed on people’s liberty. There was a lack of clear understanding in the application of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to ensure people’s human rights were fully supported and upheld where restrictions had been imposed on them. The provider’s governance systems were not always effective in identifying some of the shortfalls we found at this assessment. There were enough staff to ensure people’s safety and to meet their needs. Staff followed people’s personalised care planning to proactively support people and achieve positive outcomes. People and their relatives were involved in creating personalised training and inductions. The provider was passionate about improving people’s quality of life and this was reflected throughout the organisation.

Updated 25 April 2024

We received mixed feedback from people and relatives. People we spoke with told us staff supported them with their emotional wellbeing, mental health and their physical support needs. However, some relatives felt people were not always supported consistently by staff and that records did not always have enough detail. The provider had an electronic care planning system which enabled relatives to access people’s records where appropriate. They told us they had provided relatives with training on how to use this system to ensure relatives knew which records to access for the information they wanted. People told us they felt safe. People appeared comfortable with staff and knew staff, including the senior leadership team. They had opportunities to talk in confidence, or in shared spaces, and we observed people’s choices being respected. People told us they were involved in their care planning. Relatives told us people had personalised staff teams built up around them.