Archived: REaCH

About the service

The Reablement and Community Home Support (Reach) service is a multi-disciplinary team providing care and support in people’s own homes. The service provides short-term support for people who need help to regain their confidence and independence. The team is made up of professionals from both the NHS and Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting approximately 110 people.

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

We found the administration and management of medicines was not always safe. Improvements to individual risk management had been made since the last inspection. However, we found the service had not always assessed the individual risks to people’s health and wellbeing.

Improvements in audits had been made since the last inspection. However, audit systems and processes were not always robust enough to ensure compliance with the regulations regarding medicines and risk assessments. The report of actions submitted to CQC as a result of the last inspection had not been fully completed.

Staff told us they felt very supported in their role. Training was not always up-to-date due to Covid-19 restrictions. However, staff we spoke with were knowledgeable and passionate about providing good care.People received a person-centred service from staff who felt very supported in their role.

People we spoke with were extremely complimentary about the care and support they received from the service. One person told us, “I have absolutely no qualms. They [staff] will do anything I ask. They are lovely people. I am very happy.”

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 requires improvement (published 3 December 2019). The service remains rated requires improvement. This service has been rated requires improvement for the last two inspections. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection enough improvement had not been made and the provider was still in breach of the regulations.

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to the safe management of medicines. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

The overall rating for the service remained requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for REaCH on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

About the service

The Reablement and Community Home Support (REaCH) service is a team providing care and support in people’s own homes. The service provides short-term support for people who need help to regain their confidence and independence. The team is made up from professionals from both the NHS and Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting approximately 170 people.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

The service had not always assessed the individual risks to people’s health and wellbeing.

We found the administration and management of medicines was not always safe.

Audit systems and processes had been established; however, they were not always robust enough to operate effectively to ensure compliance with the regulations regarding medicines and risk assessments.

People we spoke with were very happy with the service they received and would recommend it. One person told us, “I am more than happy with the service. They [staff] are very, very kind and very, very helpful.”

The service was made up of professionals from several teams and disciplines. People received a high quality, holistic approach to supporting them to maintain their independence in their homes. People received appropriate and timely referrals to other relevant support services.

Staff were highly trained and supported by management to provide a high quality, personalised service to people.

The service provided an inclusive, caring and well-managed approach to end of life care from staff who were well-trained, skilled and supportive to people and their families.

We received very positive feedback about the registered manager and management team. Staff told us they were approachable, caring and very supportive. One staff member told us, “They’re fantastic; I can’t fault them.”

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.

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

Rating at last inspection

Another location, Ashlea House, was previously registered to provide this service until it deregistered on 27 July 2017. REaCH registered with us on 8 October 2018, therefore as there was a break in registration of this service, CQC class it as a new service and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the date of registration of the service.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to safe medicines management, people’s risk assessments and governance systems.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

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.