The office visit of this inspection took place on 31 July 2018 and was announced.

Coventry Short Term Home Service is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide personal care to people in their own homes. It provides a re-enablement service for up to six weeks. This is to support people to regain their independence, following discharge from hospital or to prevent admission. It also provided support to four people who required long term care and support to remain at home. At the time of this inspection the service supported 41 people with personal care and employed 17 care staff.

This was the first inspection of the service since it was registered in August 2017.

A requirement of the provider’s registration is that they have a registered manager. There was a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection. 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 felt safe using the service and there were enough staff to provide the care and support people required. Staff had completed safeguarding training and understood how to keep people safe from avoidable harm and abuse. Risks to people’s safety were identified and assessments completed to guide staff about how to reduce or manage the risk. The provider’s recruitment procedures made sure staff were safe to work with people who used the service. People received their prescribed medicines from staff who had completed training to do this safely.

People had an assessment completed at the start of their service. This was to make sure people were suitable for the short-term service and that staff could meet their care and support needs. Staff received an induction when they started working for the service and completed training that provided them with the skills and knowledge to support people’s needs. When needed, arrangements were in place to support people to have enough to eat and drink and remain in good health.

The registered manager and staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act. Staff asked for people’s consent before they provided care and respected decisions people made about their care and support.

Coventry Short Term Home Service supported people to regain their independence after discharge from hospital. The service was ‘non-time specific’ which meant care staff did not always have set times to visit people and people’s calls were allocated within a two-hour time slot. Not all the people who used the service knew this and expected care staff to arrive at consistent times.

People received care from staff who they considered to be kind and caring, and who stayed long enough to provide the care and support people required. Staff promoted people’s privacy and dignity. People received care and support which was individual to them.

Care plans provided information for staff about people’s preferences, their care needs and the support they needed to regain independence. People’s needs were kept under review and plans updated as people’s independence increased. People knew how to complain, and information about making a complaint was available for people.

Staff understood their roles and responsibilities and had regular individual meetings and observations of their practice to make sure they carried these out safely. There was an ‘out of hours’ on call system which ensured support and advice was always available for staff when the office was closed. The management team worked well together and the provider had effective and responsive processes for assessing and monitoring the quality of the service.