We carried out a review of the data available to us about FocusAbility Support and Care Services 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 FocusAbility Support and Care Services, you can give feedback on this service.
Focusability Care and Support services is a domiciliary care agency providing care to people in their own homes and in specialist housing. It provides a service to younger and older adults, living with a range of support needs, to live independently in the community. Its offices are situated in the town of Market Rasen. At the time of the inspection, the service was providing personal care to 16 people. 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.
Some of the people using the service had a learning disability and/or autism. The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People received reliable care from staff who were kind, caring, enthusiastic and professional. People and their relatives had confidence and trust in staff and were consistently positive in their feedback about the service. They were satisfied with the consistency of staffing and said they were cared for by a small group of staff who understood their needs and preferences very well.
Staff understood their responsibility to protect people from abuse and avoidable harm. They were aware of risks to their health and safety and took action to reduce these risks. Staff managed people’s medicines safely and people told us staff gave them their medicines regularly.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People confirmed staff listened to them and respected their wishes and choices.
The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.
Staff were aware of each person’s needs and preferences and they received personalised care tailored to their needs and wishes. People told us staff were flexible and willing to accommodate changes to their care package whenever they could. People were supported to maintain a healthy, varied and balanced diet. Staff worked with health and social care professionals to ensure people received coordinated and consistent care.
The service was well led and managed. The management team were accessible and supportive and communication was good. People, relatives and staff confirmed they would feel comfortable raising any concerns and said any concerns were immediately addressed.
People, relatives and staff felt involved and engaged and commented on the willingness to continually learn and improve the service. The management team assessed the quality of care through feedback from people using the service and were developing further quality monitoring processes. They were committed to continuous quality improvement.
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was Good (published 7 July 2017)
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.
FocusAbility Support and Care Services is owned by a company called FocusAbilitySupport & Care Services Ltd. It is registered to provide personal care to people who live in their own homes. The service cares for adults of all ages, who may experience needs related to dementia, learning disabilities, autistic spectrum disorder, mental health, physical disabilities and sensory impairment.
The registered persons also operates a day care support service in the same building as the personal care support service although this type of service is not regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
This was the first inspection of the service since it became registered with The Care Quality Commission (CQC) on 29/05/2015.
At the time of our inspection the service was providing support for 42 people. 27 of the people were receiving support under the regulated activity the service is registered with us for.
There was a registered manager in place who ran the service. 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. In this report when we speak about both the company and the registered manager we sometimes refer to them as being, ‘The registered persons’.
Staff knew how to keep people safe and about the actions they needed to take to report any concerns for the safety and welfare of the people they cared for. People had been supported to avoid preventable accidents.
Medicines were managed safely and people had been helped to obtain all of the healthcare they needed. There were enough care staff available to provide the care people needed and care visits were completed in line with the timings people had identified they had wanted.
Staff had received the training and guidance the registered persons had identified as required of them and staff knew how to support people with their personal care and support needs. People had also benefited from care staff using good practice guidance in order to keep improving the way they provided care.
People had been assisted to eat and drink enough to maintain their well-being and they had been consulted about the care they wanted and needed to receive.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and care staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. Policies and systems in the service supported this practice. CQC is required by law to monitor how registered persons apply the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and to report on what we find. The registered manager and care staff had received training in this subject and this enabled them to help people make decisions for themselves. When people lacked the capacity to make their own decisions the principles of the MCA and codes of practice were followed. This helped to protect people’s rights by ensuring decisions were made that were in their best interests.
People were treated with kindness and compassion. Staff recognised people’s right to privacy and promoted their dignity. Confidential information was kept private.
People had been consulted about how best to develop the service. Good team work was promoted by the registered persons and people and staff were supported to speak out if they had any concerns.
The provider and registered manager had a range of quality checks in place which had been completed and were on-going to make sure that people reliably received all of the care they needed.