This inspection took place on the 22 October 2018. We gave the provider 2 days’ notice of the inspection as we needed to make sure the registered manager would be available. The Royal Greenwich Reablement Service provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. It provides a short term programme to promote people’s independence and rehabilitation following an illness, injury or admission into hospital. At the time of this inspection 43 people were using the service. At our last inspection on 7 and 9 June 2016 the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found the service remained Good. The service demonstrated they continued to meet the regulations and fundamental standards.
The service had a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. They were aware of the legal requirement to display their current CQC rating which we saw was displayed the providers website.
The service had safeguarding and whistle blowing procedures in place, and staff had a clear understanding of these procedures. Appropriate recruitment checks took place before staff started work. There was enough staff available to meet people’s needs. Risks to people were assessed to ensure their needs were safely met. People received their medicines as prescribed by health care professionals. Staff received training in infection control and they were aware of the steps to take to reduce the risk of the spread of infections. There were systems in place for monitoring, investigating and learning from incidents and accidents.
People were referred to the reablement service by hospital discharge teams and social services. Their care needs were assessed before they started using the service. Staff monitored people’s health and wellbeing, and when they had any concerns about people’s conditions they were referred to appropriate healthcare professionals. People were supported to eat and drink when required. Staff received supervision and training relevant to people’s needs. Staff were aware of the importance of seeking consent from the people they supported. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
People received personalised care that met their needs. People told us staff were kind and caring and their privacy and dignity was respected. They had been consulted about their care and support needs. They knew about the provider’s complaints procedure and were confident their complaints would be dealt with appropriately. Staff supported people according to their diverse needs. People could communicate their needs effectively and could understand information in the written format provided to them. Information was available in different formats when it was required.
There were effective systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of service that people received. Feedback from people was used make improvements to the service where required. Staff said they enjoyed working at the service and they received good support from the management team and office staff. There was an out of hours on call system in operation that ensured management support and advice was available for staff when they needed it.