About the service:

• Cambridgeshire County Council Reablement Service South (Sawston Team) is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to adults living in their own houses and flats, so that they can live as independently as possible. Most people who used the reablement service were supported for a period of up to six weeks, but in exceptional circumstances this could be extended. At the time of this inspection 23 people were using the service and in receipt of personal care.

• Not everyone using Cambridgeshire County Council Reablement Service South (Sawston Team) receives a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service:

• Although systems were in place to monitor the quality of service provision and to drive continuous improvement, these were not always effective. The provider had not ensured that we were notified about events that we must be told about without delay. This limited our ability to alert other organisations should this be needed and prevented us from identifying trends.

• Opportunities for the service to learn and improve were mostly acted upon. The service worked in partnership with other agencies for the benefit of the people using the service. Everyone told us they were satisfied with the quality of the service to others and some people already had.

• People were protected from abuse and avoidable harm and risks to people were managed safely. Not all not risks had been assessed as well as they should have been and this put people at risk of harm. There were enough staff, with the right training and skills, to meet people’s needs and help them to stay safe. People's medicines were administered and managed safely. Incidents were acted on and lessons were learned.

• The service acted in line with legislation and guidance regarding seeking people’s consent. People were enabled to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

• Staff provided people's care with kindness and consideration.

• People's care plans were not as detailed as they could have been and this put people at risk of their care not always being respectful. Staff promoted people’s privacy, dignity, and independence. choosing.

• People received personalised care and were given opportunities to participate in activities of their. Systems were in place for people to raise any concerns or complaints they might have about the service. Feedback was responded to in a positive way, to improve the quality of service provided.

• There was strong leadership at the service. The management team and the service culture they created drove and improved good-quality, person-centred care.

Rating at last inspection:

This service has not been rated since the provider registered this service in February 2018.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection as part of CQC’s routine inspection programme.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor information about the service and will carry out another inspection in accordance with our published inspection programme. If any concerning information is received in the interim, we may inspect sooner.

For more details of this inspection, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk.