Archived: Ability Associates Limited - 77 The Street

Updated 27 August 2016

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

This inspection took place on 28 July 2016 and was announced. We gave the provider short notice of our inspection the day before the visit. This was to ensure we inspected the service at a time when people were at home.

The inspection was completed by one inspector. Before the inspection, we reviewed all of the information we hold about the service, including previous inspection reports and notifications sent to us by the provider. Notifications are information about specific important events the service is legally required to send to us. The provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

During the visit we spoke with the person who uses the service, the registered manager and a support worker. We spent time observing the way staff interacted with the person who uses the service and looked at the records relating to support and decision making for the person. We also looked at records about the management of the service.

Updated 27 August 2016

Ability Associates Limited – 77 The Street is a care home which provides accommodation and personal care for up to two people with learning disabilities. At the time of our inspection one person was living at the home.

This inspection took place on 28 July 2016 and was announced. We gave the provider short notice of our inspection the day before the visit. This was to ensure we visited the service at a time when people were at home.

There was a registered manager in post at the service. 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 legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The registered manager had not reported notifiable incidents to the Care Quality Commission. This meant information about risks in the service and the action that was taken to keep people safe had not been shared with the regulator.

The registered manager had taken action to make an application for an authorisation under the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). However, details of mental capacity assessments and restrictions on the person were not included in their support plans.

The person using the service was positive about the support they received, commenting “ I feel safe here. There is a staff member on duty at all times and someone sleeping in overnight. I get on well with the staff”.

Medicines were safely managed. There were systems in place to protect people from abuse and harm and staff knew how to use them. Staff understood the needs of the person they were supporting.

Staff received training suitable to their role and an induction when they started working for the service. They demonstrated a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities, as well as the values and philosophy of the service.

The provider assessed and monitored the quality of care and took action to address shortfalls that were identified.

We found a breach of the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.