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:

The inspection took place between 26 and 28 March 2019 and was undertaken 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. Their area of expertise was older people and people living with dementia care.

Service and service type:

Cambridgeshire County Council Reablement Service North (March Team) is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service to younger adults, people living with dementia, people with a learning disability, autism and people with a physical disability.

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 5 days’ notice of the inspection site visit because some of the people using it could not consent to a home visit from an inspector, which meant that we had to arrange for a ‘best interests’ decision about this. This was so we could speak with a relative or advocate who was able to tell us about people's care.

Inspection site visit activity started on 26 March 2019 and ended on 28 March 2019. We visited the office location on 28 March 2019 to see the registered manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.

What we did:

Before this inspection we checked the information we held about the service and the provider, such as notifications. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us.

The provider had completed and submitted 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 also asked for feedback from the local authority who have a quality monitoring safeguarding and commissioning role with the service. No concerns were reported.

We spoke with five people using the service, eight relatives of people who could not speak with us, the registered manager, the service manager, a senior care coordinator, a senior team leader, a senior support worker and three care staff. We also received feedback from the local authority social workers team.

During the inspection we looked at various records, including care records for five people, as well as other records relating to the running of the service. These included staff records, medicine records, audits and meeting minutes; so that we could corroborate our findings and ensure the care and support being provided to people was appropriate for them.