Sans Soucie Home Care Ltd

Updated 17 November 2022

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 team consisted of one inspector who visited the office and one further inspector who supported the inspection remotely.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. This service also provides care and support to people living in a number of ‘supported living’ settings, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living and nobody was being supported with personal care; and as a result, this inspection did not look at the provider’s supported living settings.

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 it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 23 September 2022 and ended on 7 October 2022. We visited the location’s office on 23 September 2022.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. 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 our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with four people who used the service and five relatives to hear about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with ten members of staff including the nominated individual, the registered manager and carers. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records including care plans and risk assessments; and two people’s electronic medication records. We looked at six staff files in relation to recruitment and supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures, were reviewed.

Updated 17 November 2022

About the service

Sans Soucie Home Care Ltd is a homecare agency and supported living service provider providing care to people in their own homes. The service is registered to provide care to older people, children, people living with sensory impairments, mental health needs, dementia, physical disabilities and learning disabilities and/or autistic people. 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. There were 21 people receiving personal care at the time of the inspection. We did not inspect the supported living provisions operated by the provider as nobody was being supported with a regulated activity. The service was also not providing a regulated activity to children at the time of the inspection. As a result, we did not inspect this element of the service.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

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

Right Support:

Staff supported people to live as independently as possible and be in control of their daily lives. People were provided with a choice in their day-to-day decision-making and families were involved where they wished to be involved. People’s risks in relation to their care were managed and staff understood how to maintain and encourage people’s independence. There were sufficient staff to cover visits and people told us that they were generally on time. Where staff were running late, they ensured that they stayed for the scheduled time of the visit. We were assured that the service were following good infection prevention and control procedures to keep people safe. Healthcare professionals told us that staff worked well with them to achieve positive outcomes for people.

Right Care:

People and their relatives told us they felt supported by staff in a kind, caring and dignified way. People’s differences were respected by staff and they had undertaken relevant training to effectively support people. This included training for learning disability and autism awareness.. People told us that the care was consistent and that staff knew them well. People’s right to privacy was respected and staff encouraged people to provide feedback about the care provided. Care plans were personalised and included information on people’s healthcare needs, preferences and social history. Staff told us they understood the importance of good oral hygiene and the steps they took to encourage people’s independence with this. People were supported to enjoy the diet of their choice and staff encouraged them to ensure they had sufficient fluids to drink. People had individual goals and objectives which were regularly reviewed by staff.

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

Right Culture:

The culture of the service was open, inclusive and empowered people to live independent lives where they were able. People and their relatives were complimentary about the service and felt their ideas and concerns would be listened to by the registered manager and provider. People told us they felt they could approach the management of the service with ideas and suggestions they had. Management had undertaken audits to look at ways of improving the service and identifying issues. Staff were generally complimentary about the registered manager and told us they were able to raise concerns.

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 the service at the previous premises was good, published on 6 November 2018.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

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