We carried out a review of the data available to us about Community Response Team West on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Community Response Team West, you can give feedback on this service.
Community Response Team West is owned by Hampshire County Council. The agency is primarily a short-term assessment and reablement service for people coming out of hospital and living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection, 100 people were using the service.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
There were effective systems in place to monitor and manage risks associated with people’s care, including incident reporting procedures. Staff understood how to identify, report and manage any concerns related to people’s safety and welfare. People’s needs for support around managing their medicines were assessed. Where staff assisted people with medicines this was clearly recorded. There were sufficient numbers of experienced staff to meet people’s needs. Safe recruitment practices were followed and appropriate checks had been undertaken, which made sure only suitable staff were employed to provide care for people.
There was an induction, training and development programme, which supported staff to gain relevant knowledge and skills. Staff assisted people to obtain advice and support from other health professionals to maintain and improve their health or when their needs changed.
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.
People and their relatives felt the agency supported them in a kind and caring manner to meet their needs. They were involved in the assessment and planning of the care they received. People were treated with respect and staff encouraged and promoted their independence.
The majority of people we spoke with told us the service was responsive to their needs. The timing of visits was the main reason people gave for any dissatisfaction with the service. Information about the agency was given to people before they received care, which informed them specifically timed visits could not be guaranteed due to the nature of the service. There was a clear and systematic process of reviews of each person’s care and support from start to end of the service provided. Systems were in place to help ensure any concerns or complaints were responded to appropriately.
There was an open and inclusive culture within the service and the registered manager provided leadership to the staff team. The provider had a clear plan for developing person-centred services that encouraged and enabled people to stay well and live independently. This included working closely with other health and social care services to enable people receiving care to remain in their own homes.
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 this service was good (published 24 March 2017).
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.
The service has a registered manager. 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.
We received positive feedback about the service, the managers and the staff. People and their relatives felt the agency supported them in a kind and caring manner to meet their needs.
People and their relatives were involved in the care they received, which was personalised to their individual needs.
Staff understood how to identify, report and manage any concerns related to people’s safety and welfare. There were systems and processes in place to protect people from harm, including how medicines were managed.
Safe recruitment practices were followed and appropriate checks had been undertaken, which made sure only suitable staff were employed to provide care for people. There were sufficient numbers of experienced staff to meet people’s needs.
Staff were supported to provide appropriate care to people because they were trained and supervised. There was an induction, training and development programme, which supported staff to gain relevant knowledge and skills.
Staff assisted people to obtain advice and support from other health professionals to maintain and improve their health or when their needs changed.
The service was responsive to people’s needs and staff listened to what they said. Systems were in place to help ensure any concerns or complaints were responded to appropriately.
There was an open and inclusive culture within the service and the registered manager provided leadership to the staff team.