Abi House

Updated 24 March 2023

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

Abi House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under 1 contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Abi House is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

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

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before 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

We spoke with 4 people who live at Abi House. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We spoke with 3 relatives and 5 members of staff. This included the nominated individual who is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. The registered manager and 3 support workers. We reviewed a number of records including, support plans and medicine records, staff recruitment and training records and a range of other records relating to the management and safety of the service.

Updated 24 March 2023

About the service

Abi House is a residential care home registered to provide accommodation and personal care for up to 7 people, who have a learning disability and/or autistic people. There were 6 people living in the home at the time of our inspection. The building has 2 floors and a communal kitchen, dining area and lounge. The service is located in Worthing, close to the seafront and local shops.

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 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.

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

Right Support: Model of Care and setting that maximises people’s choice, control and independence. The service follows a low impact, low demand model of support; for example, minimising intrusive sensory barriers. This means reduced unnecessary noise and visual stimulus with the aim to provide a calm home which supports people to enjoy their life with reduced anxiety or emotional upset. Abi House used assistive technology to support people to engage in the world around them. For example, 1 person had a therapy /companion robotic cat, which responds to the person and has cat like movements and sounds.

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 supported people with their medicines in a way that promoted their independence and achieved the best possible health outcome. Staff supported people to play an active role in maintaining their own health and wellbeing.

Staff, people and their relatives cooperated to assess risks people might face. Where appropriate, staff encouraged and enabled people to take positive risks.

Right Care: Care is person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy and human rights.

People received kind and compassionate care. Staff protected and respected people's privacy and dignity. Staff understood and responded to people’s individual needs.

People's care, and support plans reflected their range of needs and promoted their individuality, wellbeing and enjoyment of life. People could take part in activities of their choosing at the service or in the wider community and pursue their own interests. Staff received training and support to provide care effectively.

Staff worked in partnership with healthcare professionals to maintain people’s health and wellbeing.

People told us they felt safe with staff. A person told us they liked all the staff. Relatives had no concerns about the safety of people. There were policies and procedures regarding the safeguarding of adults and staff knew what action to take if they thought anyone was at risk of potential harm.

Right Culture: The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives.

Staff placed people's wishes, needs and rights at the heart of everything they did. The stable management and staff team supported people to receive consistent care from staff who knew them well. We observed people receiving compassionate and empowering care which was tailored to their needs throughout the inspection.

Staff evaluated the quality of support provided to people, involving the person, their families and other professionals as appropriate. All the relatives we had contact with were complimentary and positive about the service and the care and support their loved ones received.

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 23 October 2019)

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about maintaining family contact. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe, caring and well-led sections of this full report.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

Follow up

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