This inspection took place on 11 and 29 August 2017 and was announced. This was the first inspection of this service since it re-registered with the Commission under a new name. We did suggest it would be useful to submit a notification to request the name of the service be changed to the one local people used, namely Short Term Support Service.

In November 2015 South East Sector Home Care had been visited when we completed an inspection of Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust community healthcare services for adults. We judged the community services for adults within the Foundation Trust as being outstanding.

South East Sector Home Care is a short term support service providing an enablement, early intervention and bridging service for people in their own homes. Reablement is designed to help people recover from a period of serious illness or injury which may have resulted in hospital treatment. The service provides a range of rehabilitation, care and support services for up to six weeks and is registered to deliver personal care. Early intervention services provide additional support to people who are experiencing difficulties and aims to prevent hospital admission and the bridging service provides personal care and support for people whilst they await a long term domiciliary agency picking up their care.

The service operates a fully integrated model of support so combines social care and healthcare resources. People who use the service are rapidly assessed and can receive treatment from physiotherapists, occupational therapists and technical instructors as well as support with improving their ability to attend to everyday tasks such as bathing. The service has full access to loans equipment and staff at the service will if needed deliver items to people’s homes. Each therapist has their own case load, which they closely manage in order to ensure people are seen within 18 weeks from referral.

At the time of the inspection staff supported around 58 people in the urban area of south east Northumberland. We found this number fluctuated regularly as it depended upon when people were discharged from hospital and the speed with which people were able to return to functioning independently. We found that over the course of the previous month 125 people had been referred for support redeveloping their independent living skills and 393 people had been referred for therapy whether that be input from physiotherapists, occupational therapists or technical instructors.

The service had a registered manager who had been registered with the Care Quality Commission since October 2010. 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.

Within this vibrant, dynamic and creative service there was a strong sense of leadership, commitment and drive to deliver a service which improves the lives of the people who use the service. The culture embedded in the service was an absolute commitment to deliver a totally personalised service. We found that the management style had led to the operation of a fully integrated service, that combined the skills and expertise of health and social care staff in ways that meant people experienced a seamless service.

The involvement of other organisations and the local community was integral to how services were planned and ensured that services met people’s needs. We found that South East Sector Home Care had a model of integrated community teams across health and social care to ensure people received truly joined up working that was responsive to individual needs. There was a single point of contact for all people who needed to make referrals and access services and this practice had led to the focus being on providing