South East STSS (Short Term Support Service)

Updated 10 February 2024

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by an inspector and an Expert by Experience.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 16 November 2023 and ended on 14 December 2023. We visited the location’s office on 22 November and 5 December 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from health and social care professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan the inspection.

During the inspection

During the inspection we spoke with 8 people who had recently used the service and relatives by telephone.

We spoke with 5 management staff, including the registered manager, senior manager, regional manager, service manager and 2 deputy managers. We received 27 survey responses from reablement staff, home safe support staff, supervisors and occupational therapists.

We received written feedback from 7 health and social care professionals who work with the service.

Updated 10 February 2024

About the service

South East STSS (Short Term Support Service) is provided by Northumberland County Council. It provides a range of rehabilitation for up to six weeks, including reablement, occupational therapeutic support and a 'bridging' service, when people are awaiting longer-term care packages. The service is provided to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were 18 people using the service.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

South East STSS was an extremely successful service which helped people achieve positive outcomes, build confidence and gain independence to better manage their lives.

People who used the service received high-quality, personalised support from an exceptionally well-led service. People said the service was “outstanding” and had successfully helped them to regain independent skills to remain at home.

Staff were fully committed to providing an extremely person-centred service. Staff were very proud to work for the service and said they received superb support from the organisation and their colleagues.

The managers provided strong leadership and constantly considered how they could enhance the service. There was excellent team work and collaboration both within and outside the service. Other health and social care professionals commended the service for its exceptional management, joint-working and open communication.

Since the last inspection, the provider had developed significant new initiatives to support and improve the service to people and to the local community. These included a ‘home safe’ support team to get people home from hospital with the equipment and resources they needed within 24 hours.

The service was safe. Risks to people’s health and safety were assessed and mitigated. Medicines were managed in a safe way. There were enough staff who were recruited safely to make sure people received the right support.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff assisted them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service upheld this practice.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was outstanding (published 28 November 2017).

Why we inspected

We carried out this inspection due to the length of time since the last inspection.

This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions Safe and Well-led. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service remains the same, based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for South East STSS on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.