Kent Enablement at Home

Updated 30 June 2018

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, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This announced inspection started at the provider’s office in Sittingbourne on 18 May 2018 and an expert by experience carried out telephone calls to people that used the service on 21 May 2018. The inspection was carried out by one inspector and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because we needed the registered manager to be available to interview at the office. We also needed to gather information to confirm which people had consented to us telephoning them.

Before the inspection, we asked the provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We looked at notifications which had been submitted. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to tell us about by law. We used this information to plan our inspection.

Nine people and three relatives told us about their experience of the service. Two people, eight staff and one community professional gave us their views via a feedback questionnaire. We spoke with 16 staff, including the registered manager, the operational support officer, one administration officer, one locality manager, two enablement supervisors and ten enablement support workers

We looked at records held by the provider and care records held in the office. This included seven people’s care plans and the recruitment records of eight staff employed at the service and the staff training programme. We viewed a range of other documents including policies; medicines management; complaints and compliments; meetings minutes; health and safety assessments and quality audits.

Updated 30 June 2018

This inspection took place on 18 May 2018 and was announced. Telephone calls were made to people that used the service on the 21 May 2018.

Kent Enablement at Home (KEaH) is part of the Social Care, Health and Wellbeing directorate of Kent County Council. It provides support at home for older people and adults with a physical disability. The service has been designed for people who need support to regain their independence after a medical or social crisis. The service provides time limited support to people in their own home, initially for a period of three weeks. The service supports people who have been discharged from hospital, or those referred who live in their own home. Support provided includes help with day to day tasks like cooking, shopping, washing and dressing and help to maintain their health and wellbeing. There were 60 people using the service at the time of our inspection, living in the areas of Swale, Sittingbourne, Sheerness, Canterbury, Herne Bay and Whitstable. People were funded through Kent County Council Social Services.

At our last inspection on the 15 and 18 April 2016 we rated the service Good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of Good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and on-going monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

There was a registered manager employed at the service. The registered manager also the operations manager of the service and covers other registered locations, providing a similar service in other areas of Kent. 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.

People’s needs were assessed and care and support was planned to maintain people’s safety, health and well-being. Risks were assessed by staff to protect people. People told us that staff discussed their care with them so that they could decide how it would be delivered. Care plans were kept reviewed and updated.

Staffing levels had been maintained to ensure there were enough staff available to meet people’s physical, social and emotional needs. Staff were suitably trained, for example staff had the skills to protect people from abuse. Staff received regular supervisions so that they had the knowledge and skills to meet people's needs.

The service continued to have robust recruitment practices in place.

Staff continued to encourage people to undertake activities and supported them with their independence.

Safe medicines management processes were in place and followed by staff.

People continued to experience care that was kind, caring and personalised. People spoke about the staff in a positive light regarding their feelings of being safe and well cared for. They thought that staff were caring and compassionate.

People had access to health care professionals to make sure they received appropriate care and treatment.

Working in community settings staff often had to work on their own, but they were provided with good support and an ‘Outside Office Hours’ number to call during evenings and at weekends if they had concerns about people.

The service could continue to run in the event of emergencies arising so that people’s care would continue. For example, when there was heavy snow or if there was a power failure at the main office.

Audits continued to be effective and risks were monitored by the registered manager to keep people safe. There were systems in place to monitor incidents and accidents.

There were policies in place that ensured people would be listened to and treated fairly if they complained about the service.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.