Abacus Homecare (Bromley) Ltd

Updated 15 February 2022

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and an Expert 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

Abacus Homecare (Bromley) Ltd is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care and support to people with varying needs living within their own homes. The service had a registered manager in post. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection to ensure the registered manager and or staff would be present and available to speak with.

What we did before the inspection

We checked the information we had about the service including notifications they had sent since registering with us. A notification is information about incidents or events that providers are required to inform us about. We asked the local authority commissioning and safeguarding teams for any information they had about the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager, office manager and operations manager. Following the office visit we also spoke with two care staff by telephone and five relatives of people using the service to seek their feedback on the service provided. We reviewed a range of records including three people’s care plans and records and two staff recruitment and training records. We also reviewed records used in managing the service for example, policies and procedures, monitoring records and audits.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at records related to the management of the service.

Updated 15 February 2022

About the service

Abacus Homecare (Bromley) Ltd is a domiciliary care agency located within the Borough of Bromley. It provides personal care and support to people living within their own homes. Not everyone using Abacus Homecare (Bromley) Ltd may receive a regulated activity. CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with personal care; that is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection the service was providing support to five people.

People’s experience of using this service

Relatives of people using the service spoke positively about the service and staff. There were safeguarding policies and procedures in place and staff had a clear understanding of these procedures. Robust recruitment checks took place before staff started work and there were enough staff to meet people’s needs. Risks to people were assessed to ensure their needs were safely met. Medicines were managed and administered safely. The service had procedures in place to reduce the risk of infections and staff had enough personal protective equipment.

Assessments of people’s needs were carried out before they started using the service. People received support to maintain good health and were supported to maintain a balanced diet where this was part of their plan of care. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People were supported by staff who were kind and respectful. Staff understood people's diverse needs and supported them appropriately. People's communication needs were assessed and met. People knew how to make a complaint if they were unhappy with the service.

There were systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of service that people received. The service worked in partnership with health and social care professionals. The provider took people’s views into account and used their feedback to improve the service.

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 report published (28 March 2018).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.