This was an announced inspection carried out on 6 September 2017. Our last inspection of the STEPS (Short Term Enablement Programme) team took place on 20, 21 and 23 July 2015. At that time the service was rated Good, including an Outstanding rating in the domain of Responsive.

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

Since the last inspection the service has had a name change, to the STEPS and Night Visiting Team. At this inspection we found the service had sustained this quality of service and remained Good, with an Outstanding rating in Responsive.

There was a registered manager who managed the service on a day to day basis. 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.

STEPS and the Night Visiting Team is located in Doncaster and provides care and support for up to six weeks, to people living in their own homes. The service aims to help people regain confidence and independence with daily living tasks such as, personal care, medication management and meal preparation. At the time of this inspection there were 190 people using the service.

The service ensured that people received effective care that met their needs and wishes. People experienced very positive outcomes as a result of the service they received and gave us outstandingly positive feedback about their care and support.

The length of time people had received support from the service varied from five days to six weeks and the care received varied from one visit a day to four visits a day. However, the level of satisfaction people expressed with the service did not vary, with everybody happy with the care and support they received from the staff. People told us they felt safe and that staff enabled them to become independent again. For instance, one person who used the service told us, “I’m very happy. I don’t know what I would do without them.” Everybody found it easy to say something positive about the service and another person commented, “They gave me my confidence back. They are so, so good.” Nobody we spoke with had any negative comments to make.

We also saw very high volumes of positive feedback people had given directly to the service, either in the form of thank you letters and cards, or in the questionnaires they had completed once the programme of re-enablement was completed.

The service managed risks to people well, acting on the information gained at people’s assessment to ensure they were safe when they returned home. All staff were trained to undertake risk assessments which meant there was no delay in identifying equipment to help rehabilitate people who used the service.

The service actively involved people in their assessment which enabled them to make choices about the support they needed to help them back to independence. People were involved in updating their support plans regularly and they were written in a format that was suitable for people to understand.

A continual review of people’s support meant that the service could change the length of the visits to enable people to reach their full level of independence. The service worked in partnership with other organisations, such as healthcare services, to make sure people received the care and support they needed. Staff were also able to signpost people to other agencies, if they felt a person needed ongoing support.

The service was very responsive to people’s changing needs, adjusting visit times at very short notice for those people who required less or more time for each visit. Staff were able to build in ‘quality time’ into their working rota. This meant they could spend additional

This was an announced inspection carried out on 20, 21 and 23 July 2015. The service was first registered in December 2011 at a different location. We carried out an inspection of the service in November 2012 and was found to meet all of the regulations we inspected. This was the first time this service has been inspected at this location since its new registration in August 2013 by the Care Quality Commission.

There is a registered manager who managers the day to day operations of the service. 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.

STEPS Team (Short Term Enablement Programme) is located in Doncaster and provides care and support to people living in their own homes for up to six weeks. The service aims to help people regain confidence and independence with daily living tasks such as, personal care, medication management and meal preparation. At the time of this inspection there were 187 people who were using the service.

We received some outstanding feedback from people we spoke with. They told us that, “The service is marvellous, outstanding and staff were kind and considerate.” One person said, “They are like part of my family, they always turn up with a smile on their face and treat me with respect.”

People told us they felt safe knowing that they [the staff] would do their best to enable them to become independent again. We saw there were robust systems in place to manage risks to people. For example, one person told us they had been assessed as needing a specific bath chair so they were safe when bathing. This had been provided on the first day of the service commencing. This demonstrated that they had acted on the information gained at the assessment to ensure the person was safe when they returned home.

The service actively involved people in their assessment which enabled them to make choices about the support they needed to help them back to independence. The service was flexible which meant times of visits could change if people had to attend hospital or any other health related appointments.

The registered manager told us that all staff were trained to undertake risk assessments which meant there was no delay in identifying equipment to help rehabilitate people who used the service. The service held a central store of small equipment such as toilet and bathing aids and equipment to move people safely in bed. This meant they could fast track equipment which would normally take a number of weeks if referred by an occupational therapist.

A continual review of people’s support meant that the service could change the length of the visits as required to enable people to reach their full level of independence. Support staff were also able to signpost people to other agencies if they felt a person needed ongoing support once the programme of re-enablement was complete.

People were supported to take their medication safely and the care records identified the level of support needed for each person. The service ensured that priority for visits were given to support medication calls to ensure that people’s medication needs was given at the time prescribed. For example, Parkinson specific medications which may be needed to kick start people’s mobility. Also people who were required to take their insulin at a specific time.

Staff told us they felt supported and they could raise any concerns with the registered manager and felt that they were listened to. People told us they were aware of the complaints procedure and said staff would assist them if they needed to use it. People told us that they had contacted the office and found staff were helpful when dealing with any questions about the service.

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People told us that staff were very professional and always respected their dignity when undertaking personal care tasks. Staff we spoke with were highly motivated to provide a good service to people they supported.

Staff working at the agency was recruited safely and were able to complete training to meet the support people needed. The agency also enabled staff to undertake nationally recognised training to help them progress in their work. The agency had given employees an opportunity to be part of a ‘talent pool’ which recognised staffs potential to act-up into more senior roles within the organisation.

The registered manager was very committed to continuous improvement and feedback from people, whether positive or negative, and was used as an opportunity for improvement. The registered manager demonstrated a good understanding of the importance of effective quality assurance systems. There were processes in place to monitor quality and understand the experiences of people who used the service. The registered manager demonstrated strong values and a desire to learn about and implement best practice throughout the service.