Updated 21 July 2015
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.’
This inspection took place on 7 May 2015 and was unannounced. The inspection team consisted of an inspector and an expert by experience. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service for older people.
We received a Provider Information Return (PIR) before we carried out this inspection. A PIR is a form that asks the provider to give us key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.
During the inspection we spoke with 11 people who lived at Abigail House, four relatives, the registered manager, seven support workers, activities organiser, domestic and two catering staff. We observed how staff interacted with people and reviewed a range of records about people’s care and how the home was managed. We looked at care plans for four people, the recruitment, training and induction records for four staff, three people’s medicines records, staffing rosters, staff meeting minutes, meeting minutes for people who used the service and their relatives, the maintenance book, maintenance contracts and the quality assurance audits that the registered manager completed.
We reviewed other information we held about the service, including the notifications we had received from the provider. Notifications are changes, events or incidents the provider is legally obliged to send CQC within required timescales. We also contacted commissioners from the local authorities who contracted people’s care. We spoke with the local safeguarding teams. We did not receive any information of concern from these agencies.