Archived: Abicare Services Limited - West Sussex

Abicare Services Limited - West Sussex is a domiciliary care service providing support to people in their own homes. The service supports older people, people living with dementia, people with a physical disability, people with mental health needs, those with a sensory impairment and younger adults. At the time of our visit, they were supporting 52 people with personal care.

The service had a registered manager who had been in post since August 2015. 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 spoke positively about the support they received from care staff but also shared frustrations over staff not arriving at the preferred or agreed times, not knowing in advance which staff were attending and a lack of contact from the office when this happened. People and the service confirmed the agency was short staffed therefore this impacted on the deployment of staff and how care visits were carried out.

Medicines were not always managed safely. Significant gaps and a lack of guidance for staff were noted within care records. The records in place did not demonstrate that people had received their medicines as prescribed.

People had been asked their views of the service. People told us they knew who to go to to make a complaint and how they would do so if required. Some people told us complaints were made yet no action was taken to resolve the complaint. Complaints were recorded although it was not clear what the outcomes were what actions had been taken and what learning had been achieved to improve the service.

The service had quality assurance monitoring tools in place to identify areas which required improvement however this had not always been used effectively to implement the necessary changes in a timely way. Shortly after the inspection an action plan was provided which showed how improvements to the service were to be made.

Staff had been trained in how to recognise signs of potential abuse and protect people from harm. Risks to people had been identified and assessed and information was provided to staff on how to care for people safely and mitigate any risks.

Staff spoke kindly and respectfully to people, involving them with the care provided. Staff had developed meaningful relationships with people they supported. Staff knew people well; they promoted people’s privacy and dignity and had a caring approach.

Staff implemented the training they received in core subject areas by providing care that met the needs of the people they supported. Staff received regular supervisions and spoke positively about the guidance they received from the registered manager and other members of the management team.

People were encouraged to be as independent as possible and to be involved with determining the care they received. Staff understood the requirements under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and about people’s capacity to make decisions. People received personalised care. People’s care had been planned and individual care plans were in place. They contained information about people’s lives, including their personal histories.

We found four breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we have told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.

We spoke with the recently registered manager, the community team manager, the training manager and two staff. One staff member on induction told us 'It's very friendly and welcoming. I'm really enjoying the training'.

We reviewed care records for three people and found that they experienced safe and effective care because care plans were based on their assessed needs.

There were effective systems in place to ensure people were safe because staff were subject to rigorous recruitment procedures and a thorough induction.

Reviewing records and talking with staff demonstrated that people were safe and their needs met by a competent team who were well supported.

People benefited from safe care and support because the provider monitored the quality of service that people received.

In this report a registered manager appears who was not in post and not managing the regulatory activities at this location at the time of the inspection. Their name appears because they were still on our register at the time.

We saw people being addressed in a respectful manner. We looked at peoples individual care plans and saw that the information recorded enabled staff to plan and deliver the required level of care and support on an individual basis.

We saw that regular audits of the service were completed by the provider ensuring that people who used the service benefit from a service that monitors the quality of care that people received.

Staff told us that they had received regular training and that they felt that they were supported to carry out their roles and meet the needs of people who used the service.

We saw written evidence from people that used the service and their families stating that "I am delighted with the service" and "mum is very pleased overall with how things are going."