A domiciliary care service based in Redbridge, East London, has been rated Outstanding overall by the Care Quality Commission.
Access All Care And Training Solutions was rated Outstanding for being caring, responsive and well-led. It was rated Good for being safe and effective, following the inspection in February 2019. Previously it had been rated Good overall
The agency is based in Ilford. It presently provides care to eight people with learning disabilities and/or are on the autistic spectrum. Seven of these are children.
People’s relatives thought the service was excellent and the care exemplary. One relative said: “Once they’re in your lives it’s never too much for them.” Another said: “I am so full of enthusiasm for them. I’ve experienced poor care before and these guys do genuinely care, these guys care about people. To me I think if they weren’t in my life I just wouldn’t know what to do.”
Staff completed training specific to people’s needs and regularly fed back on the specialist equipment provided exclusively for one person. This involved being filmed whilst moving and handling the person, taking instructions following filming and completing paperwork for the equipment manufacturer. Using this equipment, and having staff trained to use it, had improved the person’s life as they were now able to taste food where previously they had only been fed by a tube directly into their stomach.
The service worked in an innovative way to involve people and their families in person centred care. There was an activities co-ordinator to assist people to do what they wanted. One relative said that people felt empowered by this support, “Staff go out with them swimming on Mondays and go to the park with them.” The activities coordinator tailored activities specific to individuals. The coordinator told CQC: “A bit of creativity is sometimes wanted to make things more fun.”
The agency promoted the use of technology to families to improve people’s information and communication skills. Inspectors saw one example where staff rotas were shared to a person’s email then converted to braille.
Service leadership was exceptional and distinctive. The service was developed with people in mind by management who had a thorough understanding of the needs of those they cared for.
The service was linked to numerous agencies and organisations. One professional said: “In my opinion the beauty and uniqueness of Access All is that managers are carers themselves and actively cover shifts.”
The registered manager and director were ‘I care’ ambassadors for Skills for Care. Skills for Care is an organisation that ‘helps create a well-led, skilled and valued adult social care workforce.’ The ambassador role function is to inspire and motivate people to understand more about working in social care and visited schools and job fairs promoting caring roles.
Debbie Ivanova, CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care, said: “I am delighted that Access All Care And Training Solutions has improved from Good to Outstanding overall. The specialist domiciliary care agency is doing an admirable job and its staff and leadership teams deserve fulsome praise for the work that they do.
“It was good to see two members of the management team as ‘I care’ ambassadors for Skills for Care, which works to improve the adult social care workforce.”
You can read the inspection report in full when it is published on CQC’s website by clicking at www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-284595190
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