Abacus Homecare

Updated 24 January 2024

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. Following the visits to the location office, 2 Expert by Experiences completed telephone calls to people and their relatives. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. A regulatory co-ordinator made telephone calls to staff.

Service and service type

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

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 because we wanted to be sure there would be people at the service to speak with us. Inspection activity started on 6 December 2023 and ended on 18 December 2023. We visited the location’s office on 6 and 13 December 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 Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. 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 reviewed a range of records, this included 5 people's care records and 4 staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures, were reviewed. We spoke with 9 people who used the service and 11 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 7 members of staff including the registered manager, the operations manager and care staff.

Updated 24 January 2024

About the service

Abacus Homecare is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were 95 people receiving a personal care service. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of the service and what we found:

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

Right Support: We found concerns around the care information available to staff to safely manage people’s individual risks. 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 underwent an induction and received a programme of training and supervision. We were informed competency checks were regularly carried out, but this was not always evidenced. People were supported to access healthcare and the provider facilitated appropriate and timely referrals to other agencies and professionals. Medicines were managed safely. Staff used safe infection control practices. Staff recruitment was mostly safe; however, we found some minor shortfalls in practice.

Right Care: People received care from kind and caring staff, and we received positive feedback from people and relatives. Care documentation needed improvements to reflect people’s personal preferences and aspirations. People told us staff knew them well. Staff knew how to protect people from the risk of harm and abuse. Staff treated people well and people told us they were supported to express their views and be involved in their care.

Right Culture: Quality assurance processes were carried out; however, they had not identified and actioned the concerns we found with care documentation. The registered manager listened to concerns and promoted a positive culture that was person-centred, open, and inclusive. Concerns and complaints were listened and responded to. Staff support, teamwork and staff morale was good. Learning was shared from within and outside the organisation and relationships with partner agencies were well established.

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 29 January 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to individual risk management and management oversight.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow Up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.