The inspection was announced and took place on 14 May 2018. The provider was given 48 hours' notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be available in the office. It also allowed us to arrange to visit people receiving a service in their own homes.

At our last inspection in November 2015, we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

Social Care Reablement (SCR) provide personal care and support to people who have recently experienced a break in their independence. For example, a decrease in skills and general health following a stay in hospital or an accident or illness. The service had merged three previous offices and now covered Exeter, East and Mid Devon. During the last inspection the service also offered a service from a community support team which gave support to people living with dementia in their own homes. This service is no longer provided.

At the time of this inspection Social Care Reablement were supporting 70 people with personal care needs work towards their individual goals and regain independence. If this was not possible Social Care Reablement helped people access other services they may need depending on their individual needs. The ethos of Social Care Reablement stems from the Care Act 2014. This sets out the general responsibilities of local authorities to promote individual wellbeing, prevent need for care and support, provide information and advice and promote integrated services.

There was a registered manager in post who was also the provider. 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 well supported by Devon County Council, the provider. There were twelve team leaders covering the three geographical Devon areas and they managed teams of reablement support workers. Team leaders covered duty in the office to deal with referrals and phone calls, assisted by reablement support clerks. There was strict criteria for referrals; the service was for a maximum of four weeks and free of charge. Timescales were based on individual need and progress towards independence. The service did not provide support for end of life care, overnight care, significant mental health conditions, medication or complex manual handling needs. People needed to be able to understand their goals and work towards them.

The service was were committed to providing a high quality effective service to people. They did this by providing very person centred care that was specific and goal focussed, by supporting staff well, listening to people's views and looking at ways to continually improve. People said, “I will miss them when they go, I wouldn’t have been able to live as I do without them” and “They were very good, they listened.” People told us they appreciated the visits from staff who were always cheerful and treated them with respect.

Staff said they enjoyed working for the service. They were well motivated and committed to providing a service that was personalised to each individual. People were fully involved in planning their care and support goals which were comprehensive to make sure staff had all the information required to support the person. This helped to make sure people received the support they wanted. Staff training underpinned the ethos of working towards independence and any training needs were linke

We undertook an announced inspection of Social Care Reablement on 2 and 3 November 2015. We advised the registered manager two days before our visit of the dates we intended to carry out the inspection. The inspection was announced because we wanted to be sure that the information we needed would be available. We also wanted to give the service enough time to contact people who might be willing to allow us to visit them to find out if the service met their needs.

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 requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the service is run.

Social Care Reablement provides personal care services to people in their own homes in the Exeter and Exmouth areas. The provider also carries out similar services in other areas of Devon and these services are separately registered. At the time of this inspection the agency provided two different services. One service known as Social Care Reablement supported people who had recently had a period of illness or injury to help them regain confidence and learn, or relearn skills such as washing and dressing. The other service – the Community Support Team - supported people living with dementia to enable them to remain living safely in their own homes. At the time of our inspection approximately 23 people received support from the Social Care Reablement team and 21 people received support from the Community Support Team.

Every aspect of the service had been carefully planned to make sure each person received a ‘bespoke’ service tailored to meet their individual needs. The service was flexible, and staff were able to spend as much time as necessary on each visit without feeling rushed or under pressure to reach the next person on time. Staff took great care to make sure the aims of the service were achieved for each person. People who used the Social Care Reablement service were consulted and involved from the start of the service to agree their goals and how these should be met. Quality audits carried out by the provider showed the service had a high level of success. People who received support from the Community Support Team were also consulted and involved in reviewing their support plans. The support plans were well laid out, easy to read and contained all of the information staff needed to ensure they provided a consistent, responsive and effective service to each person.

People were kept safe and free from harm. There were appropriate numbers of staff employed to meet people’s needs and provide a reliable service. Staff were flexible and able to adjust their daily rotas according to the needs of each person at the time of their visit. This meant people were not rushed, and staff had time to make sure people were safe and received the support they needed. Comments included “I am more than happy with the service. Every one of them has been excellent.”

Staff received regular training on topics relevant to the needs of the people they supported. They were competent, well qualified and suitably experienced. Staff knew the people they were supporting and provided a personalised service.

Care plans were in place detailing how people wished to be supported and people were involved in making decisions about their care. People were completely satisfied with the service. Comments included “They are wonderful, every one of them,” and “I can’t fault them.”

People were supported to eat and drink. Staff supported people to attend healthcare appointments and liaised with their GP and other healthcare professionals as required to meet people’s needs.

Medicines were administered safely. Staff had received training on the safe administration of medicines and we observed staff taking care when administering medicines to ensure no mistakes were made. Staff were knowledgeable about the medicines prescribed to each person. There were effective systems in place to make sure medicines were clearly recorded each time they were administered. There were audit systems in place to make sure each step of the process had been carried out safely.

People told us the service was well-run. Staff and people who used the service praised the registered manager and team leaders saying they were approachable and supportive. There were opportunities to provide regular feedback on the service. There were good systems in place to regularly monitor the quality of the service provided.