We carried out a review of the data available to us about Absolute Home Care Kent Limited 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 Absolute Home Care Kent Limited, you can give feedback on this service.
Absolute Home Care Kent Limited is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own homes. 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. The service was providing personal care to approximately 40 people at the time of the inspection.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People and their relatives were positive in their feedback about the agency and said they would recommend them to others. Comments from people included, “They’re always polite and they make time to chat to me. I am not a rushed job and off to the next one” and “They do everything they are supposed to and never leave without checking whether there’s anything else I want.” A relative said, “We went through other care companies and they are not a patch on Absolute Home Care; they are the best, a ‘Godsend.’”
People’s safety was promoted and staff followed detailed guidance to keep people safe and reduce potential risks. Staff worked alongside other health care professionals to keep people safe in their own homes. Appropriate referrals were made when people required additional resources such as equipment to keep them safe.
Staff support was based on people’s needs. People were provided with consistency and continuity of care by the same staff they knew well. Staff had been recruited safely with checks made to ensure staff were suitable to work with people.
Medicines were managed safely and administered by trained staff. Medicine audits highlighted any errors; appropriate action was then taken to reduce a reoccurrence.
People’s needs were comprehensively assessed with them, their relative and a member of the management team, prior to receiving support from the agency. Care plans contained information about people’s specific health support which were followed by staff. People were supported to maintain their nutrition and hydration when needed.
People’s care plans were detailed and personalised, promoting people’s independence and increasing their well-being. People and their relatives were given additional information about additional external health care agencies and referrals were made for additional support when required.
People were supported by staff that were kind, caring and respectful. Staff understood the importance of promoting people’s privacy and dignity when supporting people. Staff knew people well and had developed strong working relationships with people.
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.
Staff had been trained to meet people’s needs and received regular support and supervision. Staff were encouraged to undertake additional courses to widen their knowledge and skills. There were open channels of communication were staff could freely discuss any concerns or make suggestions about the agency.
People were given the opportunity to give feedback and make changes about the service they received. Systems were in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service. The management team were committed to the continuous development and improvement of the service people received.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was Good (published 2 February 2017).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.
Absolute Home Care Kent Limited is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care to people living in their own homes. The service focuses on independence, dignity, enhancing quality of life and supporting adults with end of life care. Palliative care otherwise known as end of life care is comfort care for people with serious illness which focuses on providing relief from the symptoms or pain of the illness. The office is situated in the centre of East Malling and the agency covered the West Kent area. At the time of our inspection they were supporting 57 people.
There were two registered managers in post who were also the providers at the time of our inspection. 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 received a service that was safe. Staff and the registered managers had received training about protecting people from abuse, and they knew what action to take if they suspected abuse. The safety of staff who were working out in the community had been assessed with systems put into place to reduce the risk to staff. Risks to people’s safety had been assessed and recorded with measures put into place to manage any hazards identified.
People received support and assistance from enough staff to fulfil their expected care packages and meet their assessed needs. Staff had received the training they required to meet people’s needs including any specialist needs. Staff had a clear understanding of their roles and people’s needs. Staff were supported in their role from the registered managers. Recruitment practices were safe and checks were carried out to make sure staff were suitable to work with people who needed care and support. However recruitment files did not always contain full employment histories for their employees. We have made a recommendation about this.
Where staff were involved in assisting people to manage their medicines, they did so safely. Policies and procedures were in place for the safe administration of medicines and staff had been trained to administer medicines safely.
People’s needs had been assessed to identify the care and support they required. Care and support was planned with people and reviewed to make sure people continued to have the support they needed. Detailed guidance was provided to staff within people’s homes about how to provide all areas of the care and support people needed. People using the service were treated with kindness and compassion by staff who understood the importance of protecting people’s privacy.
People were supported to remain as healthy as possible. Guidance was available within people's support plans to inform the staff of any specific health condition support. People were encouraged to maintain as much independence as possible.
Systems were in place for monitoring the quality and safety of the service and assessing people’s experiences. These included spot checks, annual questionnaires and observation visits from a member of the management team. People where given the opportunity to raise any concerns or complaints they had as well as an opportunity to make any changes.
The registered managers offered visible leadership to the staff team and, met with people regularly to ensure that they were receiving a quality service.