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Care Services

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Avalon Teesside Services, Falcon Court, Preston Farm Business Park, Stockton On Tees.

Avalon Teesside Services in Falcon Court, Preston Farm Business Park, Stockton On Tees is a Homecare agencies and Supported living specialising in the provision of services relating to caring for adults over 65 yrs, caring for adults under 65 yrs, caring for children (0 - 18yrs), dementia, learning disabilities, mental health conditions, personal care, physical disabilities and sensory impairments. The last inspection date here was 14th August 2018

Avalon Teesside Services is managed by Adult Placement Services Limited who are also responsible for 8 other locations

Contact Details:

    Address:
      Avalon Teesside Services
      Lysander House
      Falcon Court
      Preston Farm Business Park
      Stockton On Tees
      TS18 3TX
      United Kingdom
    Telephone:
      01642633556
    Website:

Ratings:

For a guide to the ratings, click here.

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

Further Details:

Important Dates:

    Last Inspection 2018-08-14
    Last Published 2018-08-14

Local Authority:

    Stockton-on-Tees

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.

11th July 2018 - During a routine inspection pdf icon

This comprehensive inspection took place on 11 and 13 July 2018 and was announced.

Avalon Teesside Services is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care and support to people in their own homes and also in supported living and shared lives schemes. It provides a service to older and younger adults, people with a learning disability or autism, children aged between 13 and 18 and people living with a dementia.

At our last inspection we rated the service Good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of Good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

There were examples of exceptional practice and this is reflected in the outstanding rating in the well led section of the report. Staff had meaningful input into the way support was delivered and morale was high.

The service was led by a very strong management team who supported staff well. The registered manager felt well supported by the provider. The values set out in the service’s mission statement were being put into action and ensuring people lived a full life was very much at the heart of service delivery. Links had been established with the local community and good relationships existed with external health and social care professionals.

The registered manager carried out a variety of audits and regular checks to ensure the service was delivered to a high standard. Staff and people who used the service were asked for their feedback and this was acted upon to make positive changes.

People were cared for safely by staff who understood safeguarding procedures and knew how to raise any concerns. Risks were assessed and plans put in place to minimise them. Accidents and incidents were recorded and monitored to reduce future risk. People received their medicines as prescribed.

Staff had access to a wide range of training to ensure they had the necessary skills and knowledge to support people effectively. People were supported to access healthcare and to have a healthy diet appropriate to their needs.

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.

Staff were passionate about their work and promoted dignity and independence. People who used the service and their relatives were happy with the support they received and told us staff were friendly.

Support plans contained very detailed information about people, their likes and dislikes and how best to meet their needs. People were engaged in a variety of activities and supported to access the community they lived in. There was a procedure in place to deal with concerns or complaints and records we saw showed this was followed appropriately.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

5th January 2016 - During a routine inspection pdf icon

This inspection took place on 5 January 2016 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be in.

Avalon Teesside Services is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care support to people with a wide range of health conditions. The service also supports people in a ‘Supported Living Scheme’ and 'Floating Support Scheme' undertaking activities which are not regulated by CQC. These additional support activities enable people to attend work and college placements, access local social and leisure facilities and carry out daily living tasks in their own homes.

The service had a registered manager who had been registered since September 2014. 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 legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People who used the service told us they felt safe, that care staff carried out their tasks in a caring manner and that they had confidence in the service. Staff had received training in how to safeguard people from harm and knew how to respond to any allegation of abuse. Staff were aware of the whistle blowing procedure which was in place to report concerns and poor practice. Risk assessments were centred on the needs of the individual. Potential risks to people had been identified and plans put into place to enable them to live as safely and independently as possible.

There were sufficient staff employed to provide consistent and safe care to people, with people receiving care from the same team of staff for most of the time. The service carried out appropriate checks to ensure suitable staff were employed.

People received their medicines in a safe way and staff had received training in the types of medicines people received. Staff recorded medicines taken by people in an appropriate medicines record sheet.

Staff received regular training both mandatory and specialist which provided them with the knowledge and skills to meet people’s needs in a person centred manner. They were supported by the registered manager and senior management team in respect of supervision and informal support.

The registered manager and staff had a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and had received training in this area to meet people’s care needs. Care staff had also received awareness training in the Mental Capacity Act.

Staff helped ensure people who used the service had food and drink to meet their needs and supported people with preparing meals where requested. Staff knew people’s care and support needs which were detailed in care plans describing how people wished to be supported. People were involved in making decisions about their care. There were regular home visits spot checks carried out by the service to monitor the quality of service and the care practice carried out by staff.

Privacy and dignity of people was promoted by staff and they treated people with respect. People who received care remained independent and in control of their decision making and choices. People had access to health care professionals to make sure they received appropriate care and treatment. The service maintained accurate and up to date records of people’s healthcare and GP contacts in case they needed to contact them.

People received care that was responsive to their needs and centred on them as individuals. People’s needs were assessed and care plans gave very clear guidance on how they were to be supported. Records showed that people and their relatives were involved in the assessment process and review of their care.

People were supported to access activities of their choice.

A complaints procedure was available and peo

21st October 2014 - During an inspection to make sure that the improvements required had been made pdf icon

At our previous inspection on 13 November 2013 we found that two regulations had been breached in respect of supporting workers and assessing and monitoring the quality of service provision. Following that inspection we wrote to the provider and asked that they make improvements to these areas. The provider wrote to us and told us what they would do to make improvements within these areas.

We carried out this inspection in order to review the improvements that the provider had told us had been made within the service. Due to the nature of the service this inspection was announced 24 hours before it commenced. The inspection was completed by an adult social care inspector and they have used the findings from the visit to answer two of our five key questions, Is the service effective? and is the service well led?

Is the service effective?

People were cared for by staff who were supported to deliver care and treatment safely and to an appropriate standard. We found that the provider had an effective training programme that was delivered to staff. We saw that additional specific training, beyond that identified as mandatory, was identified following assessment of the needs of people who used the service. This training was provided to staff to ensure they could provide safe and effective care to meet the needs of those people.

All staff were supported within the workplace with regular appraisal and supervision sessions, where professional development was discussed.

Is the service well led?

We found that there were systems in place to ensure that the quality of the service provision was monitored and improved where necessary. We saw that where the effectiveness of these systems was questioned, the provider took action to develop and implement new ways of working with a view to improving that process.

Following completion of a staff and 'customer' survey we found that the provider had taken action to address comments and concerns raised by people who used the service, and staff, to improve the service and their experience.

We found that incidents that occurred within the carrying on of the regulated activity were appropriately reported, investigated and actioned. These investigations occurred locally within the service to ensure that any immediately required actions were completed to ensure the safety and welfare of people who used the service. They were also reviewed at frequent intervals at director level.

Please note that the name of a registered manager who was not in post appears on the front of this inspection report. This is because at the time of our visit they remained registered with us. Action is being taken separately from this process to address this.

13th November 2013 - During a routine inspection pdf icon

People who were supported by Avalon Teesside Service were happy with the care and support they received, however they sometimes felt as though staff were late and didn’t always stay for the agreed time. On the whole people were happy with the support they received.

The provider had effective communication with other professionals involved in people’s care, thus people received coordinated care.

The provider had taken action to reduce the risk of people being subject to abuse and had ensured that staff were aware of what action to take if they were concerned that someone they supported was being abused. People who used the service told us they felt safe.

The provider had not made sure that all staff were up to date with their mandatory training and staff did not receive regular and frequent supervision.

The provider had systems in place for monitoring the quality of support people received, however the service did not have a proactive approach to quality assurance and did not always respond to issues in a timely manner.

4th February 2013 - During a routine inspection pdf icon

Many of the people who are supported by Avalon have limited verbal communications or difficulties expressing their opinions. We spoke to three people who used the service and two relatives about the support delivered by Avalon. All of the people we spoke with were happy with the service delivered by Avalon. The were able to express their opinions about support and knew how to make complaints if they needed to, although none of the people we spoke with said they had felt to need to make a complaint.

The organisation had a complaints process in place and when we looked at the complaints received, we could see that the policy had been followed.

Staff employed by the service had undergone a recruitment process which involved being interviewed by people who used the service. Pre employment checks such as, references and criminal records bureau checks had been carried out. People who used the service were supported by staff who had the skills and knowledge to carry out their role in a safe and appropriate way. Where people had specialised equipment, staff had received the correct training to enable them to support people safely.

10th November 2011 - During a routine inspection pdf icon

The people that we spoke to during our inspection have asked to be referred to as 'customers' throughout the report.

Comments from customers includes; "I get asked what I would like and if I had a staff member who I didn't get on with or who wasn't appropriate it would be changed".

"I get asked where I want to go, its my time so I choose what I want to do".

"My care is 100%. Staff remind me to take my medicines. Without the staff helping me I wouldn't be able to do the things I do. I go on holidays and meet with friends, the staff have really helped build my confidence".

A relative of one customer told us that they were very satisfied with the service and that their relative had been using the service for eleven years and gets on well with all the staff members.

All of the comments we received about staff providing support to customers was positive. Comments include; "I like the staff, new staff would always come and meet me first". "I like all the staff who support me and if I didn't for any reason then the agency would change them" and "staff support me to work".

We spoke with customers who said; "I get involved with staff interviews, we have a voice and we either get paid to be on the interview panel or we volunteer". "I write my own column on the internet for other Avalink Customers". "I could speak to the manager's if I had any concerns, we see them regularly" and "I have attended meetings where I am asked for my views and opinions, Avalon are good at this".

 

 

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