This inspection took place on 19 and 20 November 2018 and was announced. London Care Abbotswood registered with the Care Quality Commission on 3 October 2017 and this was their first inspection.

London Care Abbotswood provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is bought or rented, and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support service.

People using the service lived in 62 one or two bedroomed purpose-built flats in Abbotswood.

Not everyone using London Care Abbotswood 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.

There was a registered manager in post at the time of the 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.

We received variable feedback from people about the planning of their care visits. Some people told us that they would like to know which staff to expect and when. This feedback had also been received by the provider through other systems, but no action had been taken to discuss or resolve the issue.

When accidents and incidents had happened, the records did not consider how to reduce the risk of it happening again. This had been acknowledged by the provider as an area requiring improvement and they were in the process of finding ways to improve the recognition of lessons that could learnt from these.

Audits of the records relating to medicines had not always been completed robustly. Whilst the risk to people was considered low; most other errors could be explained as the person being out during their expected visit or the member of staff forgetting to sign the form, this was an area which required improvement. Other quality assurance had been completed robustly.

One person described London Care Abbotswood to us, “It’s a very pleasant place here and it’s not often you meet anyone who is grumpy or unsociable or unhelpful.” Staff knew people well and treated them with kindness, dignity and respect. Another person told us, “Generally speaking it’s very good.”

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.

There were sufficient staff available to meet people’s needs and people told us they could change their care visit times to suit if they needed to. Staff were trained to meet people’s needs, including a specific training programme when they began working at the service. Robust recruitment processes ensured suitable staff were employed.

People’s needs were assessed before they began using the service. Care plans were personalised and considered people holistically. Risks to people were considered and mitigated. Risks around people’s environments and the spread of infection were also considered and managed.

People told us they could raise any concerns with staff and the management team. Complaints were managed effectively.

There were good links with healthcare professionals and other agencies ensure people had the right support. When needed, people were supported with end of life care, by the staff team and their work with other agencies. Other professionals told us that staff worked in partnership with them.