North Tyneside Council Reablement Support Service

Updated 7 April 2020

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 was carried out by one inspector and an 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

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. The registered manager was not present during the inspection.

Notice of inspection

Inspection activity started on 12 February 2020 and ended on 26 February 2020. We informed the provider that we had started the inspection on 12 February 2020 and requested information relating to good governance. We informed them of when the site visit would take place. We visited the office location on 25 February 2020.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority professionals who work with the service 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 or have made since the last inspection. This information helps support our inspections.

We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with ten people who use the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with seven members of staff including the service manager, locality leads, scheduling officers and support workers. We received feedback from five health and social care professionals who worked alongside the service.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records, risk assessments and medication records. We looked at one staff file in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. We reviewed a variety of records related to the management and quality assurance of the service.

After the inspection

We spoke with two members of staff. We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at governance and quality assurance records.

Updated 7 April 2020

About the service

North Tyneside Council Reablement Support Service provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes via three teams; reablement, community rehabilitation and intermediate care. Referral into the teams follows a discharge from hospital, from intermediate care or from referrals from primary care services and lasts on average six weeks. Intermediate care is a care service which is a step down from hospital before a person is discharged back to their own homes. The aim of the service is to support people as they adjust back to independency in their own home. Where people are unable to carry on without ongoing support, the provider will ensure suitable referrals are made to appropriate healthcare professionals.

The service supported 122 people who lived across the North Tyneside area, including older people living with dementia and people with physical disabilities. Due to the short-term nature of this service, numbers of people being supported at any one time can fluctuate.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People received a person-centred and caring service. Putting people at the heart of the service was fully embraced by staff. People received an individualised service which met all their needs.

Staff demonstrated caring, compassionate and considerate values. People described the staff team as "Naturally caring, friendly and fantastic.” Staff were reliable, consistent and committed to caring for people.

Systems were in place to safeguard people from harm or abuse. People told us they felt safe. People were cared for by a consistent and stable staff team who knew them well.

There were safe medicine administration systems in place and people received their medicines when required. People had access to a variety of health and social care professionals to meet their needs.

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.

The quality and safety of the service was monitored through checks and audits. Discussions around accidents and incidents took place to identify if there were any changes to care practices required. There were opportunities for people and staff to share their views about the service.

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 02 October 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.