Short Term Assessment & Reablement Team (START - London Borough of Sutton)

Updated 6 October 2025

This assessment took place between 4 November and 13 November 2025. The service specialises in providing short term personal care and therapy to people living in their own homes following a discharge from hospital. Some people may also be referred to the service by local health and social care partners or charities where a need for short term care and/or therapy had been identified. At the time of this assessment, 114 people were receiving personal care from the service.

We 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 that most people take for granted.

This assessment was carried out due to the length of time since our last rating. We reviewed 8 quality statements related to 4 key questions, ‘Is the service safe, effective, caring and responsive?

Systems were in place to protect people from risk of abuse. Identified risks to people were managed well. Staff were provided with relevant training to help them meet people’s needs. This was refreshed at regular intervals to make sure staff stayed up to date with current guidance and practice. Staff were supported by managers to continuously learn and improve in their role. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. Recruitment practice was safe, and only suitable staff were employed by the service to care for, and support people.

People were involved in assessments of their needs and received care and support based on these needs. Staff made sure people understood their care and support so that they could give their consent to this. People’s care and support was reviewed regularly to ensure this was continuing to meet their needs.

People were supported to have choice and control and to maintain their independence with the activities of daily living. Staff understood people’s rights and how these should be met.

Updated 6 October 2025

People had positive experiences of the care and support they received from the service. One person told us, “The carers have been really good. They even phone me if they are going to be a bit late. How good is that? They have made all the difference to my recovery.” A relative said, “The carers are wonderful. They do everything we need and also, they check with us if there is anything else they can help with.” A health and social care partner told us, “They provide high quality care to people. They have robust processes in place. They are very thorough.”

People felt safe and confident with staff. Staff prioritised people’s safety when providing care and support while making sure people could do the things that mattered to them. People received care and support from a core team of staff. Staff were skilled and experienced and understood people’s needs well. They sought people’s consent before providing any care and support and respected their choices and wishes for how this was provided. People were encouraged to regain and maintain their skills and confidence to live independently again. They were supported by a diverse team of staff who made sure they were received fair and equal treatment for their care and support needs.