We undertook this announced inspection of Reablement and Shared Lives on 01 and 08 April 2015.
At our last inspection in December 2013 the provider was meeting the regulations that we assessed against.
Reablement and Shared Lives have two separate functions within the service. Reablement provides personal care services to people who have been in hospital and returned to live at home in the community. People are supported to achieve goals they set for themselves to enable to improve their independence and confidence at home. The service provides short term support, usually up to six weeks, by which time people are independent or are referred to more long term care provision. At the time of our inspection 27 people were receiving a personal care service from the Reablement service. Shared Lives provides long term or respite care placements for people who have a learning difficulty. On the day of inspection there were five respite and 11 long term placements being supported by the shared lives service. No-one being supported by the Shared Lives workers required personal care at the time of the inspection.
The Reablement and Shared Lives 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.
The risk of harm for people was reduced because workers knew how to recognise and report abuse.
There was a recruitment process in place and only suitable workers had been employed. There were sufficient numbers of workers to meet people’s care and support needs.
Workers received an induction when they first started working and were supported in their roles through regular supervision with arranged dates for annual appraisals.
People found the workers and managers to be supportive and kind. People were pleased that they had a small number of workers who helped them to become more independent and confident in their own home.
People planned the goals they wanted to achieve so that they could be independent and confident in their own homes. Workers were aware of the goals set by people and this meant the support people received enabled them to improve their independence.
There were health specialists, such as the occupational and physiotherapy staff, available within the service to provide seamless care for people.
The management team was accessible and approachable so that workers and people could raise any concerns. Information about the service was available so that people understood what was provided and the short term provision of support.
The management team and council reviewed the quality of the service through questionnaires, which meant people could comment about the service. People could be confident that the provider would, where necessary, make improvements.