Abantu Care Services

Updated 31 August 2022

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

Abantu Care Services is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care and support to people with varying needs living within their own homes. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in place. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection to ensure the registered manager and staff would be present and available to speak with. Inspection activity started on 25 July 2022 and ended on 10 August 2022. We visited the office location on 25 July 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We checked the information we had about the service including notifications they had sent us. A notification is information about incidents or events that providers are required to inform us about. We asked the local authority who commission the service and the local authority safeguarding team for information they had about the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to help plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We met and spoke with the registered manager, the quality assurance manager and the provider’s trainer. Following the office visit we spoke with three care staff by telephone and four people using the service and or their relatives to seek feedback on the service provided. We reviewed a range of records including five care plans and care records, four staff recruitment records and staff training records. We also reviewed records used in managing the service for example, policies and procedures, monitoring tools and audits.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at records related to the management of the service.

Updated 31 August 2022

About the service

Abantu Care Services is a domiciliary care agency located within the Borough of Bexley. It provides personal care and support to people living within their own homes. Not everyone using Abantu Care Services may receive a regulated activity. 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, we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection the service was providing support to 30 people.

People’s experience of using this service

People and their relatives spoke positively about the registered manager, staff and the service they received. Up to date safeguarding and whistle blowing policies and procedures were in place and staff had a clear understanding of them. Recruitment checks took place before staff started work and there were enough staff to meet people’s needs appropriately. Risks to people were assessed and documented to ensure their needs were safely met. Systems were in place that ensured medicines were managed and administered safely. Procedures were in place to reduce the risk of infections.

Robust assessments of people’s needs and wishes were completed before they started using the service. People received support to maintain good health and access services where required. People were supported to maintain a healthy diet where this was part of their plan of care. 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 by staff who were kind and respectful. Staff understood people's diverse needs and supported them appropriately. People's communication needs were assessed and met. People knew how to make a complaint if they were unhappy with the service.

There were systems in place that enabled good oversight of the management of the service and to monitor the quality of care that people received. The service worked in partnership with health and social care professionals. The provider took people’s views into account and used their feedback to help drive service improvements.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 20 June 2019) and there were breaches of our regulations. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do to improve and by when. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This was a planned follow up inspection to assess if the provider was complying with our regulations.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.