The Care Quality Commission
  • Services in your home
  • Homecare service

Archived: Rainbow Trust Children's Charity 2

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

59E Stramongate, Kendal, Cumbria, LA9 4BH (01539) 739077

Provided and run by:
Rainbow Trust Children's Charity

All Inspections

23 and 24 January 2015

During a routine inspection

This inspection took place on 23 and 24 January 2015. We last inspected the Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity in November 2013. At that inspection we found the service was meeting all the regulations that we assessed.

Rainbow Trust Children's Charity (RTCC) is a national organisation. It provides emotional and practical support to children who have life threatening or terminal illnesses within family homes.

The service had a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Parents we spoke with told us that they had confidence in the family support staff to keep their children safe and secure and they had confidence in the support worker’s skills and abilities.

Care plans were in place detailing how those using the service wished to be supported. We saw that families were very involved in making decisions about care and the support needed. Everyone we spoke with who used or came into contact with the service on a professional level had only positive things to say about the rainbow trust Children’s Charity. People praised the “professionalism” of staff and the way the service involved those who used it in all aspects of the service provision.

Safe systems were in place for the recruitment of new staff and for the induction and on going training and development of staff working there. We found that support staff were well supported to undertake regular training relevant to their roles. They were very knowledgeable about their responsibilities to keep people safe and to maintain their confidentiality.

We saw that the caseloads of family support staff were well monitored to prevent them becoming too large and thereby risk affecting the high level of individual care being provided. The caseload was subject to a monthly review by the support workers with the registered manager to make sure support staff could provide individualised care and be responsive to changing needs.

The manager set high standards and was accessible to all those who used the service and to the support staff who told us the manager was “really good”. Families we spoke with who used the service had confidence in the registered manager and felt confident to make suggestions about service provision and put forward ideas and raise any concerns with them.

A wide range of appropriate health and social care services had been included in assessing needs planning and implementing care and accessing support for families with frequent multi-agency meetings taking place. We saw that families needs and preferences were at the centre of all assessments and care planning. Consent was obtained to make any referrals to other professionals or to share relevant information.

13, 18 November 2013

During a themed inspection looking at Children's Services

We inspected over two days, one day we spent with the manager, on the second day we attended a 'drop-in', speaking with parents, children and staff.

We spent time observing staff interacting with children and young people and observed positive interactions.

We spoke with parents these are some of the things they told us: 'Monday morning drop-in is a lifeline.' 'Our family support worker just knows what we need, respects me and my family.' 'Good job we have Rainbow Trust, it keeps us sane.' 'Everyone visits for X my eldest son with a disability, but our family support worker comes to visit and support his brother which is what we needed.' 'What I get from Rainbow Trust I am happy with.'

Family's needs were assessed and care and treatment was planned and delivered in line with their individual support plan.

We saw where children in the family were at a transition point either with a change of school or moving onto adult services this information had been recorded in support plans with details of the support to be provided by Rainbow Trust.

People who use the service were protected from the risk of abuse, because the provider had taken reasonable steps to identify the possibility of abuse and prevent abuse from happening.

Parents, carers and where appropriate children were routinely asked to provide feedback during reviews of care.

The provider had an effective system to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that people received.

14 January 2013

During a routine inspection

The people we talked with whose children used the agency expressed satisfaction with the support and services they had received. Parents told us they were "very happy" with the service and that it was "Brilliant." They told us that they felt they could speak easily to the manager and support workers and and that "We discuss everything." We were told that the support given was " Practical and useful, so we can do things we would otherwise not be able to."

All the families we spoke with praised the commitment of the support staff. We were given examples by one parent of when the support staff had "Really made a difference when we needed them most." We were also told how much they appreciated that staff would "Just drop everything to get to us" when they were needed in an emergency situation. People also praised the emotional support they received from support staff. We were told that the support workers also provided support for siblings so they could do the things they wanted to do as well.

People told us they knew who they could speak to if they had a concern or complaint and said they would be confident raising concerns with the manager of the agency. We were told, and could see, that quality was monitored by the providers and that people were asked for their views on the service. The provider had effective systems in place to monitor the effectiveness of the services provided and to ensure that care was to people's satisfaction.

12 September 2011

During a routine inspection

All the people we talked with who were using the services of the Rainbow Trust all expressed satisfaction with the support and services they were receiving. They told us they were "very happy' with the service and another parent told us it was "fantastic'. People told us that they felt listened to and that there was an ongoing dialogue and good lines of communication so they felt their views, opinions and knowledge were being respected and acknowledged.

Everyone we talked with praised the commitment of the staff and manager and said that the staff "went over and above" in carrying out their duties. They talked about the "huge support' they had received at some of the most difficult of times for parents and that they knew they could rely on them. It was evident in the way people spoke about the support staff that there was a good supportive relationship at work with mutual respect. People told us they would recommend the service to others and some said they had done so. One person told us they could not understand why such a good service was not more well known for the work it did.

People told us that the service was "reliable' and responsive" and that they could react to changing support needs quickly. For some people having the support the service gave made it possible to have time for themselves and for other family members and have 'a bit of normal life". They also praised the "emotional support" not just the practical.