The Reablement Team

Updated 3 September 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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection team comprised of an inspector and 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

The Reablement and Crisis Team and Helpline/Response Service provides personal care and crisis support to adults living in their own homes. The Reablement Team offers a seven-day service and provides planned short-term intensive reablement support to help promote independence and avoid admission to hospital or residential care. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 56 people. The Helpline and Response team provides a seven-day, 24-hour emergency response service.

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

The inspection took place on the 19, 24 and 25 June 2019 and was announced. We gave the service notice of the inspection visit as we needed to be sure that managers would be available. On the first day of our inspection we contacted people and their relatives by telephone to seek their feedback about the service provided. On the second day we visited the office location to meet with managers and staff as well as review care records and information about the management and conduct of the service.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

During our inspection we spoke with 14 people who used the service and the relatives of four people by telephone to seek their views about the service. We spoke with seven members of the team including the nominated individual, associate director, the registered manager, resource manager, an assessment and reviewing officer and two support workers. Feedback was also provided from the manager of Pennine Care Oldham Rapid Community Assessment Team (ORCAT) and a member of Age UK, who worked closely with the service as part of the integration between health and social care.

We reviewed the care files for five people, medication administration records (MARs), six staff recruitment files and training and development records as well as information about the management and oversight of the service.

Updated 3 September 2019

About the service

The Reablement and Crisis Team and Helpline/Response Service provides personal care and crisis support to adults living across Oldham. The Reablement Team offers a seven-day service, providing planned short-term intensive reablement support to promote independence, and avoid admission to hospital or residential care. The Helpline and Response team provides a seven-day, 24-hour emergency response service. These services are part of Oldham Care and Support Ltd; the parent company being MioCare Group, a care and support provider owned by Oldham Council. Since February 2019 the service was joined by Pennine Care Oldham Rapid Community Assessment Team (ORCAT).

Not everyone who accesses the Helpline/Response 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

Robust quality monitoring systems had been embedded helping to identify any areas of improvement. Through our discussions it was evident the registered manager and senior management team had a strong commitment and were passionate at driving improvements so people received the highest standard of care and support.

The integration of the Reablement Team with ORCAT had made a positive impact on the service delivery. The service also worked collaboratively with other agencies so people’s social, emotional and physical health care needs could be safely and effectively met.

People, their relatives and staff said the service was well-led, with one person commenting, “Yes they are well led, they’re excellent at every turn”. The registered manager was described as, “Brilliant” and “Driven” in leading and supporting the team to achieve the best outcomes for people.

Safe systems had been maintained to help ensure the safety and protection of people who used the service. These included the safe management and administration of people’s medication, thorough recruitment and training processes, assessment and management of areas of risk and infection control procedures.

People spoke positively about their experiences and felt the service responded effectively in meeting their individual needs. People felt confident staff had the knowledge and skills needed and knew how to support them in a personalised way. Staff spoken with clearly understood the importance of respecting people's privacy, dignity and independence.

Information about people’s needs and wishes were detailed in a care plan, which was kept under review. 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.

Staff received the training and support needed to carry out their roles effectively. Staff had been safely recruited and there were enough staff to provide people with the personalised support they needed.

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 the service was Good (published December 2016)

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.