We carried out a review of the data available to us about Ability 2 Achieve Care & Support 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 Ability 2 Achieve Care & Support Limited, you can give feedback on this service.
Ability 2 Achieve provides Care at Home services. It provides a service to people living with autism or a learning disability, people living with mental ill health and to both older and younger adults. At the time of the inspection there were 108 people being supported by the service of which 22 received personal care.
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 choices and promoted their independence. Staff had completed training to ensure they understood the meaning of the service and to give people choices about their lives and support. People were supported to pursue their interests and to achieve their aspirations and goals. One person said, “I love helicopters and have been in one.” People were encouraged to have maximum choice and control of their lives and their staff helped them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Peoples medication was managed by staff who had received medication training to ensure safe processes were in place.
Right Care:
People received kind and compassionate care from the agency. Staff and the management team protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They spoke about people with respect and were proud of the skills they had gained. A staff member said, “Love the job and learn from the people I work with daily.” Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. They had training on how to recognise and report abuse which was regularly updated. There were sufficient appropriately recruited and skilled staff to meet people’s needs and encourage them to develop their life skills. Staff had good ways of communicating, using body language, sounds, and pictures so they could interact with people in a positive way. Staff, people supported, and their advocates cooperated to assess risks people might face. Where appropriate, staff encouraged and enabled people to take positive risks and live an independent life as possible.
Right Culture:
People led inclusive and empowered lives because of the ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of the management team and staff. People and those important to them, including advocates, were involved in planning their care. Staff evaluated the quality of support provided to people, involving the person, their families and other professionals as appropriate. Staff ensured risks of a closed culture were minimised, so people received support based on transparency and respect. Ability 2 Achieve treated people and their families with respect. This was confirmed by comments we received. One relative said, “They always include us in what we think is required, our opinions and ideas matter. It is a great service.” Relatives told us they felt comfortable to raise any issues and were confident they would be listened to and dealt with.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The service was rated good on 18 December 2018.
Why we inspected
We undertook this inspection to assess that the service is applying the principles of Right support right care right culture.
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.
The service had been operating under a previous provider and was re-registered with the current provider in March 2017.
The care service has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.” Registering the Right Support CQC policy
This service provides care and support to people living in three supported living services as well as to people living in individual private homes. They give support so that people can live in their own home as independently as possible. People's care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.
Not everyone using Ability 2 Achieve receives regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.
The care service has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.
This was an announced inspection that started on 20 August 2018 with a visit to the office base. This was the first inspection of the service since it was registered by the current provider in March 2017.
The service had a suitably qualified and experienced registered manager. 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.
The service ensured that the people they supported were as safe as possible. Staff were trained to recognise abuse and suitable systems were in place to ensure that people were protected from harm.
The service had suitably recruited, trained and supervised staff who were deployed appropriately to meet people's care and support needs. The service had suitable policies and procedures related to disciplinary and grievance matters.
Staff were trained in the administration and management of medicines and these were recorded appropriately.
Infection control matters were managed appropriately with staff receiving training and having access to personal protective equipment.
The registered manager and the senior team had a good understanding of their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. No one supported by the service was being deprived of their liberty. People told us that they were asked for consent before interactions.
Any issues around nutrition and hydration were included in care plans. Staff supported some people to undertake food preparation as part of independence and skills building.
Staff supported people to access health care support and were trained to call on the support of health care professionals for emergencies. We saw that support workers helped people to attend appointments and, in some cases had helped people access services like chiropody or dentistry.
The service was based in an office park near Bamber Bridge. This was safe and secure. The management team operated the on call system. Staff and people using the service were very satisfied with this system. We noted that the management team sent out easy read information on a regular basis so people would always know how to contact them. They were planning a move to a more accessible office in the centre of Blackpool and were preparing for this change.
People told us that staff were caring and kind. Staff were trained in person centred care and in all the aspects of privacy and dignity. People could have the support of an advocate if required.
Good assessment of need and ability was in place. Care planning encouraged independence and skills building. Care plans were detailed and people told us they had been involved with writing the plans. The plans included people's wishes in relation to their social life and we saw lots of evidence to show that people were supported to go out and to make new friends in the community.
There had been no formal complaints about the service and we had evidence to show that people felt able to contact the senior team with any minor issues.
The arrangements around governance were easy to understand with the two members of the management team having specific responsibilities but shared tasks. They were in the process of developing staff teams to strengthen the governance arrangements.
Ability 2 Achieve had suitable policies and procedures in place and these were reflected in the way the quality monitoring system was being developed. Quality monitoring was of a good standard and people's views were taken into account in future planning.