Stride East

At our last assessment in 2023, when the service was supporting older people, we rated the service as requires improvement and found breaches relating to safe care and treatment, staffing and governance. At this assessment, the service had improved and was no longer in breach of these regulations.

People felt safe and spoke positively about the care and support they received. Staff knew people well, treated them with kindness and respect, and promoted their independence.

Staff understood safeguarding responsibilities, felt able to raise concerns and were confident managers would act upon them. People were supported to access healthcare services. Staff worked with external professionals, and appropriate arrangements were in place around consent and safeguarding. Staff received training and supervision, and safe recruitment processes were followed. Staff worked well together and supported people to access healthcare, make choices and take part in daily activities. Staff described a positive and supportive working culture.

However, some improvement was needed in relation to the providers records and oversight. It was identified that some risk assessments and care plans did not contain enough information about peoples identified risks, health needs, routines and goals. Daily records did not always evidence what care staff provided, or the progress people made. Some medicines records also needed strengthening. Although a range of audits were completed, they had not identified all the shortfalls found during the assessment. Staff acted promptly in response to our feedback, and we found no evidence that these recording shortfalls had affected people’s care or impacted on their wellbeing.

Governance and oversight of the service was currently being provided by the wider provider team as there has been no registered manager in place for 18 months. However, there had been attempts to recruit to this position, these had not been successful. A registered manager ensures the day to day running of the service. While recruitment for a registered manager was ongoing the service was supported by a newly appointment deputy manager. Staff spoke positively about the deputy manager and the greater stability they had brought to the service. The provider was open to feedback provided during the assessment and improvement plans were in place to develop the service further.