Archived: Affinia Healthcare

Mr Chinonso Kalu - t/a Affinia Healthcare is a domiciliary care agency providing a service to people living in supported living accommodation in the London Borough of Havering. At the time of the inspection there were 26 people using the service.

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 a legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

During this inspection, we saw that improvements such as increasing the staffing level and updating the care plans were made. People told us that they were safe within the service. We noted the service had enough staff who were appropriately recruited, trained and supervised. People told us they were happy with the way staff treated them. They told us staff were always available when they needed support with personal care or medicine administration.

Risk assessments and care plans were completed and reviewed for people. People, their relatives and staff were involved in the review of care plans and we noted that each person's care plan reflected their assessed needs and contained guidance for staff on how to support them. People took part in various activities, which they told us that they enjoyed.

There was a good management arrangement in place. Policies and procedures were updated and made available to staff and regular staff meetings took place. The registered manager sought people's views about the quality of the service and, where needed, made improvements. People were also confident that the registered manager would deal with their complaints.

People's needs were assessed and care and treatment was planned and delivered in line with their individual care plan. People we spoke with told us they were happy with their care. One person said, "I am happy here thank you, I have no complaints". Another person told us,' it's ok as far as I am concerned'.

People who use the service were protected from the risk of abuse, because the provider had taken reasonable steps to identify the possibility of abuse and prevent abuse from happening. There was a clear safeguarding policy that was easily accessed by all staff. It contained the service provider's policy, guidelines on referral and action to take in the event of possible abuse. Staff we spoke with had a good knowledge of safeguarding issues and how to deal with incidents of possible abuse.

There was a sufficient numbers of care staff employed by the service and staffing rotas demonstrated there was a member of staff on duty at all times. There was an office at the service which was staffed 24 hours a day in case people needed support.

People who use the service, their representatives and staff were asked for their views about their care and treatment and they were acted on. Every person and relative we spoke with told us the manager and staff were approachable and saw them regularly to asked about the quality of the care provided.

People told us they were happy with the care provided. One person said, 'things are fine here and I feel safe, the carers are fine'. Another said, "the staff treat me well, we went for a walk in the park and we do all sorts of things, we had a meal at the Harvester last week'.

New staff had not received training in safeguarding since joining the service. However staff we spoke with had a good knowledge of safeguarding issues and how to deal with incidents of possible abuse.

The manager said that staff were trained in a number of core areas which were, managing challenging behaviour, safeguarding, health and safety, lifting and handling, fire safety, food hygiene, equality and diversity, infection control, and mental capacity. We examined the training records for four of the ten staff and found that they had only been trained in health and safety, fire safety and food hygiene. Staff need to be trained in key areas to ensure the welfare and safety of people.