Warwickshire Reablement Service

Reablement Services North is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people in their own homes. The service was supporting 56 people at the time of the inspection.

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

People and their relatives said they received safe care from the service. One person told us, "Yes I definitely feel safe.” Staff knew how to keep people safe and what to do if they had concerns. Staff had been recruited safely. People always received their care. People who required medicines had them administered safely. Staff protected people from the risk of infection and managed their medicines safely. Where things had gone wrong the registered manager learnt lessons to prevent these from happening again.

People and their relatives were involved in their care and made their own decisions how staff supported them. People trusted staff because they were trained well. Experienced staff supported new staff into their role. The registered manager had complete oversight of the staff and supported them with supervision. People’s nutritional needs were managed well. Staff knew risks to people and alerted GP’s or other health care professionals swiftly. People’s consent to receive care was always obtained.

People said they were treated kindly and compassionately. They were complimentary of how staff took time to get to know them and their needs. People said they staff respected their dignity and privacy. The service supported people to become more independent and spoke highly of staff for their approach in achieving this. People could understand the information they were given. It was made available in many formats and languages and could be translated if required. People’s care was arranged individually according to their needs. Some people did not have choice of the exact times their care was delivered. Those who needed it at critical times were prioritised.

The service was frequently complimented on its quality of care and of the staff providing it. People didn’t make complaints about the service.

The service was well managed, and the quality of the service was reviewed regularly. The staff had faith in managers and their colleagues and welcomed opportunities to develop. Staff were happy in their role and were proud of the improvements they made to people’s lives. The service invested in their staff and were open to suggestions on how to improve.

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.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 04 August 2016)

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

The Reablement Services North Team supports people in their own homes to achieve their pre-treatment, or pre-hospitalisation, level of independence within six weeks of support. At the time of our inspection, 70 people were supported with care.

The service had a registered manager. 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 told us they felt safe with the staff who supported them. Staff received training to safeguard people from abuse. They were supported by the provider, who acted on concerns raised and ensured staff followed safeguarding policies and procedures. Staff understood what action they should take in order to protect people from abuse. Risks to people’s safety were identified and staff were aware of current risks, and how they should be managed.

People were administered medicines by staff who were trained and assessed as competent to give medicines safely. Records indicated people’s medicines were given in a timely way and as prescribed. Checks were in place to ensure medicines were managed safely.

There were enough staff to meet people’s needs effectively, and people told us they had a consistent and small group of staff who supported them, which they appreciated. The provider conducted pre-employment checks prior to staff starting work, to ensure their suitability to support people who lived in their homes.

Staff asked people for their consent before undertaking any care tasks. The provider supported people who were able to make their own decisions, and staff respected their right to do so. Staff and the registered manager had a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act.

People told us staff treated people with dignity, kindness and respect. People’s privacy was maintained. People were supported to make choices about their day to day lives.

People saw health professionals when needed, and the care and support provided was in line with what they had recommended. People’s care records were written in a way which helped staff to deliver personalised care and gave staff information about people’s communication needs, their likes, dislikes and preferences. Care plans focussed on the outcomes people wanted to achieve to regain their independence, and were regularly reviewed to ensure this happened effectively.

People and relatives told us they felt able to raise any concerns with the registered manager. They felt these would be listened to and responded to effectively and in a timely way. Staff told us the registered manager and senior staff were approachable and responsive to their ideas and suggestions. There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the support provided, and the provider regularly sought feedback from people and their relatives with a view to improving the service.

People told us they were happy with the service. One person said, "I can't praise them enough. I now only need a morning call."

People said they were involved in setting their own goals for their care and their wishes were respected by their workers. They described their reablement workers as friendly and reliable and said the care was never rushed. Comments received included, 'They are with me without fail every day,' and 'I look forward to the visit.'

We found that effective recruitment procedures were in place to ensure staff had undergone appropriate checks before they began work.

We found that the provider had an effective system in place to monitor the quality of care and support that people received and actions were taken to improve the quality of the service.

The manager told us that the service provided short term reablement packages of up to six weeks for people who had been in hospital or required support to regain their independence after a period of illness. We were told that people were referred directly to the service from either hospital or community social service teams.

People we spoke with told us that they were happy with the service being provided and that staff were polite and treated them with respect. "Mum was very happy with the staff, they were all nice people." was one comment made.

We were told that people had completed assessments with staff from the service, and that support plans had been put in place based on the goals they wanted to achieve. We were told " I told them what I wanted to achieve and they've helped me to do that" and "They did an assessment and listened to what I wanted to achieve."

We found that staff were very positive about the benefits of reablement for people. "Reablement is a better way of doing things."and "I enjoy reablement. There is job satisfaction in helping people regain their independence." were comments made.