Archived: Rainbow Trust Children's Charity 10

Updated 18 May 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 inspection was carried out by one inspector and an expert by experience made phone calls to all four of the families using the service at present. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service for families and their children.

Service and service type:

Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity 10 provides personal care and support to children and their families in their own homes. Not everyone using Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity 10 receives a regulated activity; the Care Quality Commission (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.

The service had a manager registered with the CQC. 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 it is small, and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

What we did:

Before the inspection we looked at information we held about the service. This information included any statutory notifications that the provider had sent to the CQC. Statutory notifications include information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. The provider had completed a Provider Information Return [PIR] in 2019. The PIR 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 used all this information and the previous inspection report to plan our inspection.

During the inspection at the office we spoke with the registered manager and requested feedback by email from three support workers, one of whom replied. The week before the inspection took place our expert by experience made telephone contact with three of the four families currently using the service. We also received written feedback from a healthcare professional that had referred families to the service.

We reviewed a variety of records which related to children’s individual care and the running of the service. These records included care files of all five children receiving personal care, two staff employment records and a range of other records including information given to children and families about the service.

Updated 18 May 2019

About the service:

Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity 10 provides personal care and emotional support to children experiencing very serious illness, resulting from birth abnormalities or onset of illness for other reasons. The provider operates eight registered services in England and this local service operates in boroughs north of the river Thames. At the time of this inspection there were five children, living in four families, receiving a few hours personal care and emotional support each week.

People's experience of using this service:

The service placed the children and their families at the heart of the support they provided. Each family was provided with a package of support usually a few hours each week, however the amount of support provided was flexible and based on each child and their family’s current circumstances. Families we spoke with were highly complimentary about the abilities of all staff and their compassionate approach to care.

Staff were safely recruited, well trained and supported with core and personalised training programmes, which were geared to the specific needs of children and their families at any given time. Staff were aware of how to report any concerns about neglect or abuse. A member of staff told us they felt that they were part of an organisation that cared for them and their wellbeing, as well as the children and families they were supporting.

People were supported safely, and risks regarding their care were assessed and met. The service did not administer medicines to anyone, although if this was ever requested by a family it would be considered and the provider would ensure that staff had up to date training before doing this.

We saw clear evidence of caring relationships, which was viewed as a vital part of supporting children who were seriously ill and whose families also needed some practical, but largely emotional, support.

Regular audits about how the service was operating were carried out, as well as good communication between the staff team, which helped to maintain the high quality of the service.

More information is in the full report.

Rating at last inspection: At the last inspection in September 2016 the service had been rated as good in all key questions.

Why we inspected: This was a scheduled inspection, based upon the last rating.

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