Archived: Cambridgeshire County Council Reablement Service South (Sawston Team)

Updated 5 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:

This comprehensive inspection was carried out between 19 and 21 March 2019 by one inspector, an assistant 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.

Service and service type:

Cambridgeshire County Council Reablement Service South (Sawston 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 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit, because the management team are often out of the office supporting staff or at another service they are registered for. We needed to be sure that they would be available.

The inspection started on 19 March 2019 and ended on 21 March 2019. We spoke with people and relatives by telephone on 19 and 20 March 2019, to ask them about their experience of using the service. We visited the office location on 21 March 2019 to see the management team and care 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 and commissioning role with the service. No concerns were reported.

We spoke with four people using the service, five relatives, the registered manager, the service manager, a senior care coordinator, a senior team leader, a senior support worker and three care staff.

We looked at various records, including care records for four 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. We also asked for and received feedback from two health professionals.

Updated 5 April 2019

About the service:

• Cambridgeshire County Council Reablement Service South (Sawston Team) is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to adults living in their own houses and flats, so that they can live as independently as possible. Most people who used the reablement service were supported for a period of up to six weeks, but in exceptional circumstances this could be extended. At the time of this inspection 23 people were using the service and in receipt of personal care.

• Not everyone using Cambridgeshire County Council Reablement Service South (Sawston Team) receives a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service:

• Although systems were in place to monitor the quality of service provision and to drive continuous improvement, these were not always effective. The provider had not ensured that we were notified about events that we must be told about without delay. This limited our ability to alert other organisations should this be needed and prevented us from identifying trends.

• Opportunities for the service to learn and improve were mostly acted upon. The service worked in partnership with other agencies for the benefit of the people using the service. Everyone told us they were satisfied with the quality of the service to others and some people already had.

• People were protected from abuse and avoidable harm and risks to people were managed safely. Not all not risks had been assessed as well as they should have been and this put people at risk of harm. There were enough staff, with the right training and skills, to meet people’s needs and help them to stay safe. People's medicines were administered and managed safely. Incidents were acted on and lessons were learned.

• The service acted in line with legislation and guidance regarding seeking people’s consent. People were enabled 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.

• Staff provided people's care with kindness and consideration.

• People's care plans were not as detailed as they could have been and this put people at risk of their care not always being respectful. Staff promoted people’s privacy, dignity, and independence. choosing.

• People received personalised care and were given opportunities to participate in activities of their. Systems were in place for people to raise any concerns or complaints they might have about the service. Feedback was responded to in a positive way, to improve the quality of service provided.

• There was strong leadership at the service. The management team and the service culture they created drove and improved good-quality, person-centred care.

Rating at last inspection:

This service has not been rated since the provider registered this service in 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 about the service and will carry out another inspection in accordance with our published inspection programme. If any concerning information is received in the interim, we may inspect sooner.

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