Gabs Healthcare

We carried out this assessment of the service because it is used by autistic people or people with a learning disability but is not registered as a specialist service. We have assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities most people take for granted. We were not assured the provider had a good understanding of the ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance and how it should be used to support service improvement and development.

The provider did not have effective systems and policies in place to ensure the provision of safe, effective and responsive care. The service was not well-led and there was a lack of governance systems to ensure care met the minimum standards expected. We were not assured the provider and registered manager had the knowledge and skills to lead the organisation effectively. The provider had limited understanding of the specialised systems and processes required to ensure care and support for people with a learning disability, autistic people and children was safe and effective.

The provider was in breach of the legal regulations relating to consent, safe care and treatment, good governance and recruitment of staff. We issued a warning notice for the breach of regulation 17 Good governance and requested improvement action plans for the breaches of regulation 11 Consent, regulation 12 Safe care and treatment and regulation 19 Recruitment of staff. In instances where CQC has begun a process of regulatory action, we may publish this information on our website after any representations and/or appeals have been concluded, if the action has been taken forward.

This service is being placed in special measures. The purpose of special measures is to ensure services providing inadequate care make significant improvements. Special measures provide a framework within which we use our enforcement powers in response to inadequate care and provide a timeframe within which providers must improve the quality of the care they provide.