Wiltshire Council Reablement Service (Trowbridge Hub) is a domiciliary care agency that provides a therapy led, reablement service to people in their own homes. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is to 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 received support over a period of six to eight weeks or less depending on their progress. During this time, staff worked with people to regain their independence and confidence. This was particularly after an illness or injury.
People were fully assessed to ensure the service was suitable to meet their needs. Within the assessment process, people were able to discuss their expectations of the service and their perceived goals. They were also assessed for any equipment that might help them with their independence.
People were complimentary about the service they received. Their support had enabled them to regain skills such as getting ready for their day and meal preparation. People generally found after their period of support, they no longer needed any registered service.
Each person had a support plan, which detailed their needs. However, the information did not show the stages of people’s reablement journey and some areas lacked detail. The registered manager told us there were plans to improve the information to ensure it was more person centred.
Each person’s progress and goals were discussed at a weekly meeting. This enabled any support to be amended in a timely manner.
Staff had not always signed the medicine administration record to show they had supported a person to take their medicines. The registered manager had identified this shortfall and had asked staff what improvements were needed. The records were amended, and errors reduced. All other aspects of people’s medicines were safely managed.
People were consulted about their support and encouraged to give their views about the service. This was within surveys or via telephone discussions. All written information was available within different formats such as large font, braille or other languages.
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 were complimentary about the staff and their rights to privacy and dignity were promoted. There was a very strong ethos of promoting independence and enabling people to reach their potential. This ethos was adopted throughout the staff team.
Staff were safely recruited and there were enough staff to support people. Staff received a range of training to ensure they had the knowledge and skills to do their job. There were opportunities for career progression and to complete professional qualifications. However, the registered manager recognised some training had not been delivered in a timely manner due to the changing needs of the service. Further training had been arranged to address this.
There was a clear management structure and staff were aware of their role and responsibilities. Regular audits took place to assess the quality and safety of the service and there were overviews to identify potential trends.
Reflective practice took place to improve service delivery. This was particularly apparent whilst the service was developing and becoming established.
Rating at last inspection
This service was registered with us on 30/08/2018 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned comprehensive inspection.
Follow up: We will monitor all intelligence about the service and complete another inspection in line with this and our frequency of inspection guidance.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk