Allenbrook Home (Halesowen)Ltd

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 leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture.
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 71 (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 registered manager and provider were open and honest during the assessment and shared the challenges they have overcome. We saw evidence of action plans. These identified any improvements needed and how the service would implement and embed these. The service worked with the local authority to make improvement to the care provided. Staff we spoke with told us they felt the service was always improving and the team work well together. One staff member told us, ‘We work well as a team, morale is good. Management always includes us’.

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 provider worked very closely with the registered manager and we saw evidence where they identified and developed any new skills required. At this assessment there was a new deputy manager in post. We saw how the registered manager supported them to develop in their role and gain leadership skills.

The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. Staff we spoke with felt listened to and confident in speaking up. Staff knew how to raise concerns outside the service if they needed to. One staff member told us, ‘I would have no concern in raising a concern, if I didn’t feel listened to, I would speak to CQC or contact safeguarding.’ The provider promoted channels of speaking up. Staff we spoke with knew where to access information on speaking up.

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. Staff told us they worked well as a team and always helped and supported each other. The service supported staff who needed to work flexibly, and promoted a positive work/life balance.

The provider had clear responsibilities, roles, and systems of accountability. Some systems did not effectively identify the governance concerns we found during this assessment. The provider acted on information about risk, performance and outcomes, and shared this securely with others when appropriate. During this assessment the management were in the process of reviewing people’s care plans and risk assessments to ensure details captured within them were up to date. This meant some care plans had conflicting information. For example, one person’s care plan detailed how they used a standing frame and if they were unable to, they could be hoisted. However, the risk assessment had not been updated to reflect this change and detailed how they were hoisted by 2 members of staff. We raised this concern to the registered manager, who actioned the update on the day of the assessment. We reviewed 6 peoples reposition charts. Care plans stated they were required to be repositioned every 4 hours. Charts showed us this was not consistently happening. We raised this to the registered manager and they evidenced this was a recording issue and this task was taking place. The provider and management were working with the staff team to improve on record keeping and ensuring gaps in charts were reduced. Audits for environment, medication, health and safety checks and fire safety were in place and completed by management and an assigned maintenance staff member weekly and monthly in line with the provider’s policy.

The provider understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services worked seamlessly for people. They shared information and learning with partners and collaborated for improvement. The provider and registered manger completed an action plan based on feedback from the local authority’s quality team. The action plan was reviewed by the local authority regularly. We found the provider and management team to be responsive in actioning any changes or feedback received.

The provider focused on continuous learning, innovation and improvement. 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 registered manager had an open-door policy and ensured they were available to people. Team meetings were held regularly and these evidenced where learning had taken place following an incident. This was discussed collaboratively as a care team and lessons learnt were recorded. The provider always looked at new ways of working to improve care practices within the home. People, relatives and health professionals were asked to complete feedback surveys. Information gathered would be recognised and we saw evidence action following feedback had been taken.