Archived: START South

Updated 25 February 2017

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 31 January 2017 and was unannounced. The inspection was completed by one inspector.

We reviewed the information we held about the service, including statutory notifications that the provider had sent us. A statutory notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We also contacted health and social care commissioners who place and monitor the care of people living in the home.

During our inspection we spoke with six people, one relative, ten members of the care staff team, four members of the office team, the registered manager and the provider.

We looked at care plan documentation relating to three people, and three staff files. We also looked at other information related to the running of and the quality of the service. This included quality assurance audits, training information for care staff, staff duty rotas, meeting minutes and arrangements for managing complaints.

Updated 25 February 2017

This unannounced inspection took place on 31 January 2017. The START South (Short Term Assessment and Reablement Team) service provides care and support for people who need immediate support to live independently in their own home; this may be as a result of a crisis or illness, or following a discharge from hospital. They provide short term support for people to regain independence or identify if people require a permanent care provider to meet their longer term care needs. In addition, this service also supports the HICT (Holistic Intermediate Care Team) service which supports people with dementia, and require an input from a team of professionals including Occupational Therapists and Admiral Nurses (specialist dementia nurses). At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 55 people.

There was 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.

Improvements were required to ensure that all staff had refresher training on a regular and consistent basis. We found that not all staff had received recent training in safeguarding and first aid awareness however the registered manager had made plans to ensure staff completed their outstanding training needs.

People felt safe having support from the agency in their own home. Staff understood the need to protect people from harm and abuse and knew what action they should take if they had any concerns. Staffing levels ensured that people received the support they required. There were sufficient staff to meet the needs of the people and recruitment procedures protected people from receiving unsafe care from care staff unsuited to the job.

People received care from staff that were supported to carry out their roles to meet the assessed needs of people living at the home. Care records contained risk assessments and risk management plans to protect people from identified risks and helped to keep them safe but also enabled positive risk taking. They gave information for staff on the identified risk and informed staff on the measures to take to minimise any risks.

People were supported to take their medicines as prescribed. Records showed that medicines were obtained, stored, administered and disposed of safely. People were supported to maintain good health and had access to healthcare services when needed.

People were actively involved in decisions about their care and support needs. There were formal systems in place to assess people’s capacity for decision making under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Staff ensured people provided consent to the care and support they received.

People received care from staff that were caring and kind. Staff encouraged and supported people in a personalised manner and respected people’s decisions. People were treated with dignity and respect and confidentiality was maintained.

People had care plans in place that ensured people received the care they required. Care was flexible to meet people’s changing needs and staff encouraged people to be as independent as possible. Complaints were responded to effectively.

The service had a supportive and approachable management system. Staff had access to senior staff at all times and suggestions for change were considered and acted upon. The culture within the agency focussed on the same goals to empower people. The provider had policies and procedures in place which were suitable for the needs of the service.