Archived: Abbeyfield Malmesbury Care at Home

Updated 23 April 2022

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.

As part of CQC’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic we are looking at how services manage infection control and visiting arrangements. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection prevention and control measures the provider had in place. We also asked the provider about any staffing pressures the service was experiencing and whether this was having an impact on the service.

This inspection took place on 15 February 2022 and was announced. We gave the service 72 hours’ notice of the inspection. The inspection was completed by telephone on 4 March 2022.

Updated 23 April 2022

Abbeyfield Malmesbury Care at Home is a care agency that provides care and support to people who live at Burnham Court, a housing complex. There are 49 apartments within the complex and at the time of our inspection a care and support service was provided to 20 people.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Improvements had been made to the management of risk, and medicines were managed safely. Staff were aware of their responsibilities to identify and report a suspicion or allegation of abuse. There were staffing vacancies and some people were being supported by agency staff. Attention was being given to the recruitment of new staff, and safe recruitment practices were being followed.

People were supported by staff who were valued and well trained. People were assisted to have enough to eat and drink. Staff supported people to access healthcare services as required. 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 were complimentary about the quality of staff. Staff treated people with care and compassion and systems were in place to monitor this. People were encouraged to make decisions about their support and their privacy and dignity was promoted.

The service was responsive to people’s needs. The times of people’s support had been discussed with them and formalised, so all support was now at set times. Improvements had been made to people’s support plans. The information was detailed and reflected people’s needs. The service was able to provide end of life care but at the time of the inspection, no one required this. People knew how to make a complaint.

Improvements had been made to the quality auditing systems, so they were more effective. There was a positive ethos, which focused on independent living. Recent changes had been introduced to people’s visits and they now had a designated time, unless it was an emergency. Previously people were supported when they requested assistance. The registered manager was working with people to adjust to these changes. There was a commitment to continually improve and the service worked well in partnership with others.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was Requires Improvement (published 18 October 2018) and there were two breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. 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 inspection based on the previous rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Abbeyfield Malmesbury Care at Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.