We carried out a review of the data available to us about Community Reablement Team on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Community Reablement Team, you can give feedback on this service.
The Community Reablement Team (CRT) is part of the Intermediate Care Service which is delivered in partnership by Reading Borough Council and Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust. CRT provides a short-term flexible service for up to six weeks, for people who have been assessed as being able to benefit from a reablement programme. The service is delivered in people's own home or at the intermediate residential care centre. The service was supporting 98 people at the time of this inspection.
Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People we spoke with told us they felt safe using the service. People were cared for by staff who knew how to keep them safe and protect them from avoidable harm. There were enough staff available to meet people's needs. People were supported to take their medicines independently where able. Incidents and accidents were reported, investigated and actions taken to prevent recurrence.
People’s needs were assessed, and care plans were in place. People were cared for by staff who had been trained to carry out their roles and who were knowledgeable about the support people needed. 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.
People told us they were cared for by kind and compassionate staff. People told us staff respected their privacy and dignity.
Staff were knowledgeable about people’s support needs as well as people’s preferences for how they were cared for. People’s feedback was sought. Complaints were reported, investigated and resolved appropriately.
Systems were in place to monitor the quality of care provided and continuously improve the service. Staff spoke highly of the provider and said it was a good place to work. The service worked closely with other health and social care teams.
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 12 July 2017).
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 Community Reablement Team (CRT) is part of the Intermediate Care Service which is delivered in partnership by Reading Borough Council and Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust.
CRT provides a short term flexible service for up to 6 weeks, for people who have been assessed as being able to benefit from a reablement programme. The service is delivered in people’s own home or at the intermediate residential care centre. The service was supporting 58 people at the time of this inspection. The number of people supported fluctuates on a daily basis.
At the last inspection the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found the service remained Good.
Why the service is rated Good:
There is a registered manager running the service. 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.
The CRT continued to offer people a service that was run as safely as possible. The service made sure staff were recruited safely and were suitable to work with the people. Staff understood how to protect people and followed the relevant procedures to keep people as safe as they could. General risks and risks to individuals were identified and action was taken to reduce them. People were supported to take their medicines safely, at the right times and in the right amounts by trained and competent staff.
The service remained effective. People’s health and well-being needs were met by staff who were appropriately trained and responsive to people’s rapidly changing needs. The service worked with health and other professionals to ensure they met people’s needs in the most effective way. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible, the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
The service continued to be caring and responsive. The staff team were committed and provided positive care with kindness and respect. Care staff were knowledgeable and responsive and helped people to regain as much of their independence as possible.
The service continued to be well led. The registered manager was described as highly supportive, approachable and responsive. The quality of care the service provided was assessed and reviewed regularly and improved, as necessary.
This inspection took place on 28 and 31 July 2015 and was announced. Community Reablement (CRT) is a specialised domiciliary care service which is part of a local authority intermediate care team. This means they work with other social work and health care professionals to provide an integrated service. The service seeks to assist people to regain their independence after hospitalisation. They provide a short term 24 hour, seven day a week service of up to six weeks, to mainly older people in their own homes.
The service is required to have 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 care staff were completely trustworthy. They said they always felt safe when using the service. Staff had been properly trained and knew how to protect people in their care. There were enough staff who had been safely recruited to provide appropriate care to people.
People’s rights were protected by staff who understood the Mental Capacity Act (2005). The Mental Capacity Act 2005 legislation provides a legal framework that sets out how to act to support people who do not have capacity to make a specific decision. Care staff understood consent issues and people told us they made their own decisions. People’s capacity to make decisions was recorded and appropriate paperwork was included in care plans.
People had their needs met by staff who were well trained and had the knowledge and skills required to give people personalised care.
People told us they were very happy with the care they received. They described the staff as respectful and caring and the care as very good to excellent. The service respected people and staff’s diversity.
The service was well managed and the registered manager had made improvements to the service since her appointment. The service worked closely with their other colleagues in the intermediate care team to try to make sure people had the best chance of regaining or retaining as much of their independence, as possible.
We found that people who used the service were involved in developing their care plans and signed to agree their care and treatment. One relative we spoke with told us 'The care staff are wonderful and really support my husband and I' and 'The equipment I needed to support my husband was arranged and put in place very quickly, which made the whole situation easier to bear'.
People's care and welfare was protected because their care plans highlighted the exact care and treatment they required and included risk assessments where necessary. One person told us 'Nothing is too much trouble and I could not speak more highly of the staff. They help me with everything I need'.
We found staff were recruited and supported appropriately. There were processes in place to ensure staff were suitably qualified or experienced before starting work. Staff we spoke with told us that they had been well supported through the recruitment and induction process.
People's views were listened to and acted upon. The service managers reviewed the feedback on a monthly basis and issues or concerns were dealt with swiftly.
People did not always experience care, treatment and support that met their needs and ensured their safety and welfare. This was because the care plans were not person centred and were sometimes missing at the initial visits to people using the service.
We saw that all staff had received safeguarding training. 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.
People were cared for by staff who were supported to deliver care and treatment safely and to an appropriate standard. People we spoke with told us they were cared for by well trained staff.
People who use the service and staff were not routinely asked for their views about care and treatment. We found that the provider did not have an effective system to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that people receive.