3 December 2019
During a routine inspection
East Riding of Yorkshire Care in the Home Service is a domiciliary care agency operated by British Red Cross. It provides a bespoke service to people recently discharged form hospital following surgery to hips, knees or feet who need assistance to apply and remove surgical stockings. The provision of personal care includes the washing and creaming of people’s legs washing and the application of stockings to help prevent the formation of blood clots and other thrombo-embolytic diseases (TEDs), therefore the agency was affectionately known as the TED service. Help and support is provided to people for a maximum of six weeks. At the time of this inspection the service was assisting seven people.
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
People were kept safe. Risks to people and staff were assessed prior to and during visits. A service user safety assessment identified risks posed to people and control measures were put in place to help minimise any risks.
Recruitment processes for staff were thorough and robust. The same employment checks were undertaken for volunteers.
People's needs were assessed to ensure they received support that met their post-operative needs. Staff and volunteers received appropriate training, with annual refresher training in the application of surgical stockings from hospital staff.
People were complimentary of the care provided by staff and volunteers. People were involved in care planning. They were also able to choose when to end the short-term service within the maximum six week period of support.
The service was flexible in its approach. Staff often went over and above their remit to make sure people remained safe and healthy at home, signposting people to other agencies. The service carried out an evaluation at the end of support to assess if people had achieved positive outcomes.
The registered manager received support from the provider, including access to provider systems and support at a regional level. Regulatory requirements were understood and audits in place gave the registered manager good oversight of the service.
Staff meetings were carried out to gather views from staff and to discuss best practice. Staff were updated about any changes to this service and the wider British Red Cross service. People’s views were sought after the service ended. The response rate was high and feedback was extremely complimentary.
The registered manager had established positive links with people in the public, private and voluntary sectors. There were plans in place to develop the service and to raise its profile within the community and with healthcare services.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported not support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported 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 Good (published 11 February 2016). Since this rating was awarded the provider de-registered the service. The service was then re-registered at the same premises on 3 December 2018. We have used the previous rating to inform our planning and decisions about the rating at this inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow Up
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for East Riding of Yorkshire Care in the Home Service on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.