This announced comprehensive inspection took place on 2, 3 and 4 October 2018. The service was previously rated good in all areas in July 2016 when it was operated by a different provider. At this inspection we again found that the service was good in all areas.

Camborne STEPS (Short term enablement and planning service) is a domiciliary care service that provides support to people living in and around the Redruth and Camborne area of Cornwall. The service provides up to six weeks of support to people who are returning from hospital or who are in need of extra support, to enable them to continue to live in their own homes. The service provides support to both older people and younger adults.

On the day of this comprehensive inspection the service was providing personal care for 29 people. Records showed that the service was highly successful in it’s goal of supporting people to regain the skills necessary to live safely at home. In august 96% of people supported by the service had not required ongoing care at the end of their six weeks period of support.

The service is required to have a registered manager and there was a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection. 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 registered manager was responsible for two registered services in the west of Cornwall and was based in the Camborne STEPS office for half of each week.

The registered manager was not normally allocated care visits and was supported by five team leaders who were also supernumerary. Each team leader was responsible for managing a small group of staff and a number of people’s care packages. Team leaders spent at least 2 days per week out of the office completing needs assessments, care plans reviews and staff spot checks. Their remaining time was spent in the service office, updating care plans, reviewing visit schedules and supporting the registered manager. The roles and responsibilities of the registered manager and individual team leaders were well defined and understood by all staff and people who used the service. The registered manager was office based and available to provide support and guidance to team leader sand staff as required.

The staff team were committed to the service aim of supporting people to regain their independence and took pleasure in describing how they had supported people to achieve their goals. Staff said they were well supported by their team leaders and the registered manager who they could contact for advice whenever necessary. Staff comments included, “You never feel there is no back up here. Someone is always comes to help if you need them”, “This is the best company I’ve worked for” and “The best bit is seeing people develop over a short period of time. Seeing that you have helped people recover”.

People and their relatives were highly complementary of the service and report that they would be happy to recommend Camborne STEPS to others. There comments included, “I couldn't cope without them, I would recommend them, it is an amazing service. They deserve all the praise they can get”, “My relative would give them 10 out of 10” and “I couldn’t have done without them, I can’t speak more highly of the service. As far as I am concern the service is absolutely wonderful.” While health professionals told us, “We would just like them to have more capacity as we very much believe in their ethos of re-enablement.”

The service was designed to support people following illness or a period of hospital admission to regain the skills necessary to live safely at home. Staff took pleasure in describing their successes and told us, “The best bit is seeing people develop over a short perio