About the service: Social Care Reablement Follaton House is a reablement service provided by Devon County Council. The service provides support to people in their own homes for up to four weeks following an illness, injury or set back. The purpose of the service is to support people to learn or re-learn skills to undertake daily living activities such as washing, dressing and meal preparation. At the time of our inspection 18 people were using the service.

People’s experience of using this service:

People felt safe and comfortable when staff visited them in their home. People were kept safe as potential risks had been assessed and managed. There were enough staff to complete the planned visits.

People were treated with kindness and compassion by staff. People said, “I couldn’t have been looked after any better” and, “The staff are all very nice, very chatty and we have a laugh.”

People’s needs were met by staff who had received regular training and support. People were treated with respect and staff understood how to protect people’s rights.

People were involved in making decisions about the goals they wanted to achieve. People felt staff had helped them to progress and become more independent. Reablement goal plans contained up-to-date information about each person’s needs.

People were asked for their views about the service. The most recent feedback results showed people were happy with the service they were receiving.

There were effective systems in place to monitor the quality of the service.

The registered manager was committed to improving care where possible and had developed effective working relationships with other professionals and agencies.

The service met the characteristics for a rating of “Good” in all the key questions we inspected. Therefore, our overall rating for the service after this inspection was “Good”.

More information is in the full report.

Rating at last inspection: The rating at the last inspection was Good (The report was published on 25 November 2016).

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about this service until we return to visit as part of our re-inspection programme. If we have any concerns, we may inspect sooner.

Social Care Reablement Follaton House is one of six reablement services provided by Devon County Council. The service provides support to people in their own homes for up to six weeks following an illness, injury or set back. At the time of our inspection there were 31 people receiving a service.

This inspection took place on 28 and 31 October 2016 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a service to people in their own homes and we needed to be sure people receiving a service, staff and the registered manager would be available to speak to us. One adult social care inspector undertook the inspection. This was the first inspection of the service since it had moved to its present address.

The service had a registered manager who also managed one of the provider’s other reablement services. 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.

People and staff told us the service was well-led. One person said, “The service is excellent” and another described it as, “wonderfully helpful”. The service’s vision and values were described by staff as enabling and supporting people to regain their confidence and skills and respecting people’s rights, choices, privacy and dignity. Throughout our inspection we saw that staff put these values into practice. Staff spoke respectfully about people and cared about their welfare.

People said they felt safe with the staff when receiving care. The service undertook assessments to identify potential risks to people’s safety and plans were developed to minimise these risks. People were provided with specialist advice and support from physiotherapists and occupational therapists and were provided with equipment to help maintain their safety and independence. Staff had received training in safeguarding adults and knew how to report any concerns in line with the service’s safeguarding policy. People set themselves goals they wished to achieve for the period of time they were being supported and the staff worked with people to increase their abilities and confidence. Staff were respectful of people’s choices and they and the registered manager had a good awareness of people’s rights under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

The service employed sufficient numbers of safely recruited and well trained staff to meet people’s needs. People told us the staff were knowledgeable and skilled. One person said, “The staff are well recruited and well trained.” Staff had received training in topics including safeguarding people, infection control, safe moving and handling, first aid, the Mental Capacity Act and respecting privacy and dignity. Several of the staff had worked for the service for many years. They said they did so because they felt the service had high standards and was professional.

The registered manager explained that the service was not time specific or limited as staff were responsive to people’s needs at each visit. This meant some visits might take longer than others. People told us they had never had a missed call, and if the staff were going to be much later than expected they always received a phone call to notify them. People were very positive about the way staff supported them, saying they were kind, caring and respectful. One person said, “I think the staff are brilliant.” Staff performance was monitored through direct observation, supervisions and appraisals to ensure they were meeting people’s needs and following the guidance in people’s care plans. Regular staff meetings provided opportunities to review the development and continued improvement of the service. Staff told us the registered manager was very approachable, they were invited to share