Abbeyfield Loughborough

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• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Although improvements to culture and learning were in progress, these were taking time to embed. Staff did not always feel listened to or have the confidence to raise concerns. Staff described a lack of cohesive working between teams, staff and management. The provider had implemented more robust governance, systems and process that were more effective in identifying and addressing concerns in the quality and safety of people’s care.

This service scored 39 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

We did not look at Shared direction and culture during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.

Some staff spoke about concerns around the leadership and management style of leaders. Staff described a culture where relationships between staff teams were fractured and, whilst managers were competent, some lacked effective communication skills resulting in a lack of respect and teamwork. Some staff felt confident to approach managers, whilst other lacked confidence and felt raising concerns or issues would not have a positive outcome for them.

We found although leaders acted with integrity, the providers processes were not fully effective in measuring the skills and competence of leaders to develop and lead teams effectively through change and development. We discussed these concerns with the registered manager and nominated individual. They told us they had identified all leadership styles within the service needed reviewing and further development. They were in the process of working with leaders across the service to improve this.

We did not look at Freedom to speak up during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.

We did not look at Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.

The management team were open in acknowledging that, although improvements had been made to their governance processes, many were in progress or yet to be embedded at the time of our assessment. Staff we spoke with confirmed the new management team had started to make positive changes to the care provided, although further work was needed to develop effective teams and collaborative working between staff teams and leaders. Managers were aware of most of the concerns we found during this assessment and told us it was taking time to establish governance processes due to the number of changes required and they had prioritised immediate concerns first.

The provider had made improvements to systems and processes and records were easily accessible. Systems to support management oversight through audits and checks were more robust, though these were not fully embedded at the time of our assessment.

We did not look at Partnerships and communities during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.

The provider had developed more robust governance systems and processes that assessed, monitored, mitigated risks. This enabled the provider to have increased oversight. Following audits and checks, action plans were being implemented to further drive improvements.The provider had recently introduced new processes which enabled people, relatives, staff and others to share their experience of the service.

The provider had processes in place for driving improvements within the service. Improvements around safeguarding, care planning and approaches were evident at the time of our assessment. Improvements around culture were at early stages and require further development to promote effective team working and support for staff.