We carried out a review of the data available to us about able2achieve Office on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about able2achieve Office, you can give feedback on this service.
Able2achieve is a domiciliary care agency and supported living service. It provides personal care to people with learning disabilities and/or autistic people living in their own homes in the community. It also provides care and support to people living in 'supported living' accommodation, so that they can live in their own home as independently as possible. At the time of the inspection, the service was supporting 15 people with their personal care needs in Somerset.
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 using this service and what we found
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.
Right Support:
The service supported people to have choice, control and independence. The service had plans and guidance to support people with identified risks. Staff communicated with people in ways that met their needs. Care was person centred and promoted choice and independence. People were supported to achieve positive outcomes. People were supported by staff who received an induction and ongoing training. People were happy with the support they received.
Right Care:
People felt safe. Risks to people were assessed and mitigated. Systems, processes and practices safeguarded people from abuse and avoidable harm. People were protected by the prevention and control of infection measures in place. Lessons were learned and improvements were made when things went wrong. Staff were recruited in a safe way. People were treated with kindness and respect. People's privacy and dignity was respected. Staff were kind and caring.
Right Culture:
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 generally good. Staff were positive about their work and clear about the aims of the service. There were effective quality monitoring systems in place.
Feedback from people and their relatives was good.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update.
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 6 August 2019) and there were breaches of Regulation 19 (Fit and proper persons employed) and Regulation 18 Registrations (Notification of other incidents). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.
At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good based on the findings of this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for able2achieve on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.
About the service: Able2Achieve provides personal care and support for people with a learning disability to enable them to move to independent living. The care and support is provided for people living in supported living houses with shared occupancy and to people living in their own homes in the Yeovil area. At the time of the inspection the service was providing personal care and support for 25 people.
People’s experience of using this service: People were supported by a consistent staff team who were kind and caring. Staff had good relationships with people and knew them well. People were encouraged and supported to maintain their independence. People and their families consistently praised the staff team for their solution focused attitudes.
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.
The service applied the principles and values of ‘Registering the Right Support’ and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence.
The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of ‘Registering the Right Support’ by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.
The provider and senior staff had completed audits on the home to support quality checks. However, these checks had not identified when recruitment processes failed to meet relevant legislation, and when statutory notifications had not been made as required. All services registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) are required to make statutory notifications about certain changes, events and incidents affecting their service or the people who use it.
Medicines were managed safely and measures to prevent infection control met relevant guidance. Care plans were personalised and contained person centred information to enable staff to meet people’s needs and preferences. Risk assessments enabled people to be safe but also allowed them to develop their independence.
People’s dietary needs had been catered for. This information was detailed in their care plans. People had good health care support from professionals. When people were unwell, staff had raised a concern and taken action with health professionals to address people’s health care needs. Staff followed guidance provided to support people with their care.
There were sufficient staff to support people. Staff felt supported by the manager and the provider. Staff had received training to support their role and supervision had taken place as frequently as required. Staff were aware of people's routines and preferences and they used this information to develop positive relationships and deliver person centred care
Relatives told us that they felt people were well cared for by staff who treated them with respect and dignity. People enjoyed person-centred activities. Staff encouraged people to participate in things of interest to them and which increased their independence.
The manager worked in partnership with health and care professionals and the local community. We received positive feedback from professionals involved with the service. The provider had displayed the latest rating at their office and on their website.
We identified one breach of the Health and Social Care Act (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 and one breach of the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009. Details of action we have asked the provider to take can be found at the end of this report.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection: Good, report published October 2016.
Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme.
Able2Achieve provides personal care and support for people with a learning disability to move to more independent living. The care and support is provided for people living in supported living houses with shared occupancy and to people living in their own home in the Yeovil area. People who live in the shared supported living properties have individual tenancy agreements. At the time of the inspection they were providing personal care and support for 20 people. The level of personal care provided is minimal and most of the support they provide is about learning to live and work independently within society. We visited two supported living properties to meet people and to discuss the care they received. Four people agreed to talk with us at the supported living properties and three other people met us at the Able2Achieve office. We also observed how people interacted with staff and whether they were relaxed and happy.
This was the organisations first inspection since they registered the new office in April 2014.
There was a registered manager in post. 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 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
People were supported by sufficient numbers of staff who had a clear knowledge and understanding of their personal needs, likes and dislikes. We observed close relationships had been built with people. Staff had a very in-depth understanding of people’s needs and how they preferred to be supported both in their home and within the community. People were able to talk with senor staff in the office at any time as there was an open door policy and all staff in the office knew them well. People who received care and support from Able2Achieve told us they were happy with the service provided. They said the registered manager and staff were open and approachable and cared about their personal preferences and maintaining their independence. One person said, “They are all great I can talk to anyone at any time and nobody says go away.”
People told us they received care from learning support workers who were knowledgeable about their needs and were appropriately trained to meet them. Learning support workers had access to training specific to their roles and the needs of people, For example they had attended training in the use of alternative communication aids such as Makaton. Staff told us the training they received was good one staff member explained how they had received training specific to managing diabetes for one person. This enabled them to manage menu planning and a healthy diet.
People said they were cared for and supported by learning support workers who were polite, compassionate and caring. One person said, “They are all very kind to me and they care about what I want.” We observed they had a very relaxed and cheerful relationship with the learning support workers supporting them during our home visit and throughout the day.
People were protected from abuse because the provider had systems in place to ensure checks of new staffs characters and suitability to work with vulnerable adults were carried out. Staff had also received training in protecting vulnerable people from abuse.
People’s care needs were recorded and reviewed regularly with senior staff and the person receiving the care. All support plans included written consent to care if people agreed to sign. Learning support workers had comprehensive information and guidance in support plans to deliver consistent care the way people preferred. One staff member said, “The support plans are really good they are written with the person so they have a say in what they want.”
The registered manager and directors have a clear vision for the service. Their mission statement says, “Our mission is to enable personal achievement and progression by developing essential skills and self-confidence through learning, living and working.” Their core values are, “Opportunity, choice and respect.” These values and mission were reflected in the way staff talked about their roles and how they supported people. Staff were passionate about the way they promoted independence and supported people to develop and progress, building on confidence and meeting goals.
The service had a complaints policy and procedure that was included in people’s support plans. People said they were aware of the procedure and knew who they could talk with. People and staff said they felt confident they could raise concerns with the registered manager and they would be dealt with appropriately.
There were systems in place to monitor the care provided and people’s views and opinions were sought on a daily basis. Suggestions for change were listened to and actions taken to improve the service provided. All incidents and accidents were monitored, trends identified and learning shared with staff to put into practice.