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Care Services

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Absolute Care Services (Sutton), BIZSPACE, Lombard Business Park, 8 Lombard Road, London.

Absolute Care Services (Sutton) in BIZSPACE, Lombard Business Park, 8 Lombard Road, London is a Homecare agencies specialising in the provision of services relating to caring for adults over 65 yrs, caring for adults under 65 yrs, dementia, learning disabilities, mental health conditions, personal care, physical disabilities, sensory impairments and substance misuse problems. The last inspection date here was 27th April 2019

Absolute Care Services (Sutton) is managed by Absolute Care Services Ltd who are also responsible for 4 other locations

Contact Details:

    Address:
      Absolute Care Services (Sutton)
      Room 128
      BIZSPACE
      Lombard Business Park
      8 Lombard Road
      London
      SW19 3TZ
      United Kingdom
    Telephone:
      02038155444
    Website:

Ratings:

For a guide to the ratings, click here.

Safe: Good
Effective: Good
Caring: Good
Responsive: Good
Well-Led: Good
Overall: Good

Further Details:

Important Dates:

    Last Inspection 2019-04-27
    Last Published 2019-04-27

Local Authority:

    Merton

Link to this page:

    HTML   BBCode

Inspection Reports:

Click the title bar on any of the report introductions below to read the full entry. If there is a PDF icon, click it to download the full report.

10th April 2019 - During a routine inspection pdf icon

About the service:

• Absolute Care Services (Sutton) is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’, that is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do this, we also take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection there were 76 people using the service.

People’s experience of using this service:

• People said staff were caring and supported them in a dignified, respectful way which maintained their privacy and independence.

• People’s views were sought to help the provider plan and deliver care that was tailored to their needs.

• People’s records contained up to date information for staff about how their care should be provided in a way that not only met their needs but kept them safe. People told us staff were able to meet their needs and respected their preferences and choices about how their care and support was provided.

• People said they felt safe with staff who understood the risks to their safety and wellbeing. Staff followed good practice to minimise risks from poor hygiene and cleanliness when providing personal care and when preparing and handling food. Staff knew how to safeguard people from abuse and how to report any concerns to the appropriate individual and/or authority.

• Staff asked for people’s consent before providing any support. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

• People were supported to stay healthy and well. Staff helped them to eat and drink enough to meet their needs and to take their prescribed medicines. Staff sought extra help and support for people if they need this, for example when they became unwell. They worked with other healthcare professionals to ensure a joined-up approach to the care people received.

• There were enough staff to support people. The provider made sure staff were suitable to support people through their recruitment and selection practices. They gave staff relevant training to help them meet people’s needs and supported them to continuously improve their working practices.

• People knew how to make a complaint if needed and the provider had arrangements in place to deal with this. The provider recorded and investigated any accidents and incidents that occurred, and kept people involved and informed of the outcome. Learning from complaints and investigations was shared with staff to help them improve the quality and safety of the support they provided.

• The service had a new manager in post. They, and staff, were well supported by the provider who made sure they had clearly defined roles and responsibilities for delivering high quality care and support to people.

• The provider had improved those areas of the service where we had previously found concerns. We saw positive changes made to systems for reporting notifications, staff recruitment, medicines audits and arrangements for scheduled visits to people.

• The provider was continuing to improve the quality and safety of the service and sought people and staff’s views about how they should do this. New technology was being introduced at the service that would give people more access to information about their support. This would also provide staff instant information about the support provided to people to help them monitor that people were getting the right care and support at the right time.

• The provider worked in partnership with other agencies such as local authorities funding people’s care to develop and improve the support provided.

Rating at last inspection:

• At the last inspection the service was rated ‘Requires Improvement’ (18/04/2018). At this inspection we found the service meet the characteristics of a good service

21st February 2018 - During a routine inspection pdf icon

Absolute Care Services (Sutton) is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats and in ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is rented and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) does not regulate premises used for extra care housing. CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. At the time of this inspection the service was providing personal care to 134 people using the domiciliary care service in the community and to 87 people living across three extra care housing schemes in the London Borough of Sutton.

This inspection took place on 21, 22 and 23 February 2018 and was announced. At our last comprehensive inspection of the service in January 2016 the service was rated ‘good’ overall and ‘requires improvement’ in our key question “is the service well led?” Although we did not find the provider in breach of legal requirements at that time we found some people using the service had concerns about the quality of communication when there were changes to the service and about the consistency and continuity in staffing levels.

At this inspection we found some improvement had been made as people’s feedback indicated they were now more satisfied with the support they received from regular, familiar staff. However people using the domiciliary care service in the community were less satisfied with support they received from staff at weekends, who they were less familiar with. People who lived in the extra care housing schemes had more positive experiences and told us they were supported by regular and familiar staff which helped build and maintain continuity and consistency in the support they received.

We received mixed feedback from people about the length of time staff spent with them during their scheduled visits. People using the domiciliary care service in the community were less satisfied with this aspect of the service. However people who lived in the extra care housing schemes gave us positive feedback about this aspect of the service. The provider was aware of the concerns people had and an action plan was being developed in response to people’s feedback to address the inconsistencies in these aspects of the service.

Some people told us aspects of the communication they received from the service needed to improve. People using the domiciliary care service in the community told us they often did not receive a rota in advance of scheduled visits to advise them who would be coming to provide them with care, particularly at the weekend. This lack of information from the service had made some people using the service anxious about who they might get to provide their care and support.

The service continued to have a registered manager in post. We found the registered manager had not met their legal obligation to submit notifications to CQC of events or incidents involving people at the service. Failure to notify CQC of these incidents meant we could not check that the provider had taken appropriate action to ensure people's safety and welfare in these instances. The provider took steps during this inspection to ensure senior staff understood the legal requirement to report these incidents to CQC.

People were safe when being supported by staff. Staff had access to appropriate guidance on how to minimise identified risks to people due to their specific needs to help keep people safe from injury or harm in their home and community. Staff were supported to take appropriate action to ensure people were protected if they suspected they were at risk of abuse.

There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. The provider carried out appropriate checks on their suitability

19th January 2016 - During a routine inspection pdf icon

This inspection took place on 19 and 21 January 2016 and was announced. This is the first inspection of this service since it was registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in October 2015.

Absolute Care Services (Sutton) is a large domiciliary care agency which provides personal care and support to people in their own homes. People either pay for their own care or are funded by their local authority. The service also has contracts to provide personal care to approximately 80 people living in extra care housing schemes within the London Borough of Sutton. These schemes are operated by independent housing providers.

At the time of our inspection there were approximately 180 people in total using the service. People who use the agency include older people and younger adults with disabilities. Their range of needs include those associated with dementia, mental health, sensory impairment, palliative care and learning and/or physical disabilities.

The service had a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have a legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act and associated regulations about how the service is run.

People had mixed views about the management of the service. People with poor perceptions of the service said there was a lack of communication about changes and no consistency and continuity in staffing levels. Other people were satisfied and spoke positively about the care and support they received.

The service had received a number of complaints from people over the last twelve months. The majority of these arose following significant changes at the service during this time. Senior staff had taken action to deal with people’s concerns appropriately. This included addressing issues around staffing and improving the timeliness of scheduled visits. Some people confirmed things had improved. However others felt they had not. It was too early to judge at the time of this inspection whether these improvements had improved outcomes for all of the people using the service.

The provider was committed to ensuring people experienced good quality care. A new staffing structure improved accountability and responsibility at all levels. Specific issues and concerns could be readily dealt with by an appropriate, responsible member of staff. All staff were aware of their responsibilities for ensuring people received good quality care. They were encouraged to report poor practices by reporting these immediately to senior staff, or anonymously through the provider’s whistleblowing procedure.

Senior staff monitored the quality of the service. Through their checks, people were asked for their views on how the service could be improved. When issues were identified through these checks appropriate action was taken to make improvements. The provider used learning to continuously improve the service. Feedback from people’s complaints had been used to address shortfalls and gaps in the care and support people experienced. The provider worked closely with the local authority contracts team to address any concerns or issues about the service and to identify improvements that were needed. Following a recent CQC inspection of one of their other services, the provider had improved management monitoring arrangements to enable staff to react quicker when shortfalls or concerns were identified.

People and their relatives told us they felt safe with the care and support provided by the service. Staff knew what action to take to ensure people were protected if they suspected they were at risk of abuse and not harmed by discriminatory behaviour or practices. Risks to people’s health, safety and wellbeing had been assessed by senior staff. Staff were given guidance and instructions on how to minimise any identified risks t

 

 

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