Archived: Cambridgeshire Reablement Service North (Cambourne Team)

Updated 18 April 2019

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

One inspector and an expert-by-experience carried out this inspection. An expert-by-experience is a person who has, or has had a relative who has, experienced a similar type of care service.

Service and service type:

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides short term reablement personal care service to people living in their own houses and flats and specialist housing. It provides a service to older and younger adults.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection:

We gave the service 3 days’ notice of the inspection site visit because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that staff would be available.

Inspection site visit activity started on 13 March 2019 and ended on 27 March 2019. We visited the office location on 13 and 18 March 2019 to see the registered manager and care staff; to review care records, staff records and policies and procedures. We spoke with 14 people using the service and relatives, by telephone to ask for their feedback on 13 March 2019. We received feedback about the service on 27 March 2019 from a representative of the Local Authority.

What we did:

Prior to the inspection we reviewed information we held about the service to aid with our inspection planning. This included notifications. Notifications are incidents that the registered manager must notify us of. We contacted other health and social care organisations such as representatives from local authority who have a quality monitoring safeguarding and commissioning role with the service, and local hospitals discharge planning teams. This was to ask their views about the service provided.

During the inspection we spoke with 11 people and three relatives of people who used the service. We also spoke with the service manager, the registered manager an occupational therapy team manager, a senior care co-ordinator, two lead reablement workers and one support worker. We looked at three people’s care records and corresponding risk assessments and monitoring records including medicine administration records. We also looked at staff records and records used in the management of the service.

Updated 18 April 2019

About the service:

Cambridgeshire Reablement Service North (Cambourne Team) is a short term reablement, domiciliary care service that was providing personal care to 32 people at the time of the inspection.

People’s experience of using this service:

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible.

People were happy with the care and support they received from staff. Staff encouraged people to complete tasks independently, or with minimal support where possible. This support from staff was in place with the aim of enabling people to be independent again following a stay in hospital or illness. Staff assisted people in a caring and compassionate way.

Staff knew about safeguarding people from harm or poor care. Staff knew how to report their concerns internally and externally to local safeguarding authorities.

Staff undertook a pre-assessment on people new to the service. This established what reablement support a person required and whether staff were trained to meet these needs. People were involved in their care decisions and the planning of their day-to-day care. Risks to people’s health and well-being were identified and monitored. Guidance and training was in place for staff on how to support people with these risks. This included a health and safety and an environment risk assessment which gave information to staff in the case of an emergency such as a fire.

Staff respected and promoted people`s dignity and privacy. Staff supported people with their prescribed medicines safely. People were supported by staff with their food and drink to make sure they were eating and drinking.

People`s personal information was confidentially stored within the office. People, their relatives and advocates were involved in discussions about their care.

There were enough staff to meet people`s needs and people received their care calls on time. People were kept safe from risks of infection and cross contamination. There was a robust recruitment process and new staff received a thorough induction Staff received supervision from their line manager and training to ensure that they could effectively carry out their role. Staff learnt lessons from incidents and near misses that happened to help reduce the risk of the incident happening again.

Staff worked with other external organisations to help support and promote people’s well-being. Staff gave people information in different formats, when needed, such as picture aids to aid people with their understanding. Staff signposted people to different agencies and organisations that could support them. For example, organisations that could help support people with their welfare benefit entitlements, with specialist small aid equipment to assist people with day-today tasks such as getting dressed and a befriending service to support people who felt isolated.

People, their relatives, and advocates gave feedback on the quality of the service provided. People knew how to raise a complaint and their concerns were listened to, investigated and resolved where possible. The provider`s governance systems and processes had identified areas of the service where improvements were needed and these were acted on. The registered manager and staff completed internal audits to ensure the service provided to people was effective and safe.

Rating at last inspection:

This is the first inspection of the service since it was registered on 2 February 2018.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection as part of CQC’s routine inspection programme.

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 any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.

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