The Avenue Care Home

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture.

At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained good. This meant the service was consistently managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality, person-centred care.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities. The home had clear aims and objectives which was outlined in the Statement of Purpose, “To provide a service which meets the needs of all service users…To fulfil our philosophy of care by ensuring the highest standards are achieved and maintained for all residents. The Avenue Care Home, works continuously towards improving the standards of care provided to residents so they feel safe, secure and have a sense of belonging to both the home and the local community.”

The provider had inclusive leaders at all levels who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. They did so with integrity, openness and honesty. The Avenue Care Home did not have a registered manager. They had not had a manager registered with CQC since 14 February 2024. The providers were able to provide a timeline of managers in post since 2024 with an explanation as to why they had not remained in post or applied to register. A new manager had been appointed and had been in post for 9 weeks at the time of our visit. The new manager was open and confirmed they would be registering with CQC. They had applied to register with CQC during our assessment. The new manager had numerous years of experience working in care settings. People were complimentary about the new manager. A relative said, "The changes the new manager is bringing in are positive.”

The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. There was a raising concern, freedom to speak up and whistleblowing policy and procedure in place. The policy provides clear guidance for staff including a step-by-step guide on how to raise concerns and details whistleblowing and protect (formerly public concern at work) whistleblowing charity contact numbers and email addresses.

The provider valued diversity in their workforce. They worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them. There were processes in place to ensure staff were treated fairly and equally and their rights were upheld. For example, there was an equality and diversity policy in place. The policy ensures all members of staff can work in an environment which is free from harassment or discrimination and states, “The Avenue Care Home Ltd is committed to ensuring all members of staff and job applicants receive equal treatment, regardless of their protected characteristics, namely age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and sex.” Staff told us they felt respected and valued at work.

The provider had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. They used these to manage and deliver good quality, sustainable care, treatment and support. They acted on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, and shared this securely with others when appropriate. The new manager was being supported by the providers who visited regularly. Regular checks and audits were carried out by both the manager and provider. This meant any areas requiring improvement were identified and addressed promptly. Staff were clear about their roles and what was expected of them. Staff communicated well with each other to ensure they had the information they needed to provide good care. One staff member told us, “We work as a team really well.” Since the new manager had been in post, they had upskilled their senior staff to take on more areas of responsibilities. This included providing senior staff access to the Person-Centred Software (PCS), an electronic care management system, which meant they can now update, amend, add to care records accordingly. One staff member said, “[New manager name] is absolutely brilliant. Had several managers then no manager, [new manager name] took over and knows what they are doing. Has eye for details. Deals with things. They have been so supportive.” The manager and providers were aware of their regulatory requirements and knew their responsibility to notify agencies when incidents occurred.

The provider clearly understood and carried out their duty to collaborate and worked in partnership, so services worked seamlessly for people. They always shared information and learning with partners and collaborated for improvement. The manager told us how they worked with external agencies such as the local authority during quality reviews. The local authority had recently undertaken a quality review at the service. Documentation showed learning from local authority visits was used to strengthen practice and improve the service. Staff also worked closely with other healthcare professionals such as hospital staff, primary healthcare services, mental health services, learning disability services and advocacy services to ensure people received coordinated, holistic care, with timely access to specialist input where required. For example, we could see a multi-disciplinary team (MDT) meeting took place which involved the consultant team and advocacy service for a person who required surgery. Pre-operative planning meant a successful outcome for the person which was supported by coordinated multi agency working. This had a positive outcome for the person.

The provider focused on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. They actively contributed to safe, effective practice and research. The manager was transparent and shared areas they had identified as needed changing and improving since being in post and were working hard to make those required changes. For example, upskilling senior staff members to have more areas of responsibilities. They were committed to continue to make improvements. The management team were open to our feedback and acted promptly. For example, once they were aware the window restrictor screws were not tamper proof they ordered tamper proof replacements without delay.