Archived: aVida - Gloucester

Updated 9 January 2015

An announced inspection took place at the service’s office by an inspector on 8 July 2014. The inspector was supported by an expert by experience that carried out telephone surveys with some people who used the service. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

We reviewed the Provider Information Record (PIR), the results of questionnaires completed by people who used the service and previous inspection reports before the inspection. The PIR was collated from records held by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and information given to us by the provider. This enabled us to ensure we were addressing potential areas of concern and identifying good practice.

During our inspection we looked at the care records of eight people and inspected read four staff files. We also spoke with two staff members who as well as working in the office also supported people in their own homes. In addition, we spoke by telephone with 10 people who used the service; three relatives and three members of staff. We viewed a range of documents which related to the management of the service.

This report was written during the testing phase of our new approach to regulating adult social care services. After this testing phase, inspection of consent to care and treatment, restraint, and practice under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) was moved from the key question ‘Is the service safe?’ to ‘Is the service effective? The ratings for this location were awarded in October 2014. They can be directly compared with any other service we have rated since then, including in relation to consent, restraint, and the MCA under the ‘Effective’ section. Our written findings in relation to these topics, however, can be read in the ‘Is the service safe’ sections of this report.

Updated 9 January 2015

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 and to pilot a new inspection process being introduced by CQC which looks at the overall quality of the service.

A registered manager was in place as required by their conditions of registration. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service and has the legal responsibility for meeting the requirements of the law; as does the provider. However the registered manager was not available during our inspection so we spoke with another senior member of staff who was in charge of the service and assisted us with the inspection.

An announced inspection took place at the service’s office by an inspector. 48 hours’ notice of the inspection was given because the person in charge is often out of the office supporting staff. We needed to be sure that they would be in. aVida provides a service to people who need personal care and support in their own homes. The service operates within the Gloucester area and mainly supports people with physical needs as well as people who have mental health problems, sensory impairments and learning disabilities. 

Whilst staff were able to tell us how they cared for people in a way that supported people’s needs and choices, this was not always reflected in people’s care records. Not all the care records which we inspected gave staff clear guidance on how to support people with more complex health needs. This is a breach of Regulation 20 Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.

The majority of staff were supported and trained in their role; however we found that new and inexperienced staff were not initially fully supported away from their care visits and people felt that new staff required more training in supporting people with complex needs. Further training for staff had been planned and the registered manager had set recruitment targets to improve staffing levels.

Some people felt that communication from the office needed to improve to help them understand which members of staff would be visiting them. Avida Care took over this service from another provider in May 2012. We were told the main challenge for them had been to ensure the continuity of the service for people as well as transferring across all the documents and records related to the service. New systems and monitoring processes had been reviewed and implemented as a result of the new provider. An example of this is the implementation of team leaders who are responsible for the service being delivered in a geographical area. People’s care and support had been reviewed to ensure that they were in line with the local authority contracts. This had resulted in change in some people’s care.

People who used the service and their relatives were generally positive about their care they received. People said they felt safe with the staff and they responded to their needs. We were told that staff were kind and caring and they were treated people with respect. One person said “I think if I asked for a male or female carer, I would get one. Yes, the carers do respect me. Never had any problems with race, religion etc.” People were supported to make day to day decisions and protected from abuse as staff were knowledgeable in protecting people from harm and involving people in their care.