Sante Care At Home

Sante Care At Home is a domiciliary care agency that specialises in providing live in care services. Live in care is where staff live and work with people, in people’s homes, providing personal care and support as required. 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. At the time of our inspection there were eight people using the service.

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

People were satisfied with the care and support they received from staff. They received the care and support that had been planned and agreed with them. People’s choices for how this was provided were respected and staff delivered this in line with their wishes.

Staff were kind and caring. They supported people in a dignified, respectful way which maintained their privacy and independence. People had a choice about who they received care and support from. The provider made sure this was from the same staff so that this was provided in a consistent way. People were helped follow their interests and to take part in activities that were relevant to them. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People were safe using this service. Staff understood how to protect people from abuse or harm. They were given the information they needed to help reduce risks to people's safety and wellbeing. Staff followed current practice when providing personal care and when preparing and handling food which reduced hygiene risks

The provider made sure there were enough staff available to meet people’s needs. They also made sure staff were suitable and fit to support people through their recruitment checks. Staff received relevant training to help them meet people’s needs. The provider regularly assessed their competency to make sure they were carrying out their duties appropriately and to a high standard. The provider made sure staff had regular opportunities to review and improve their working practices to help them provide effective support to people.

Staff helped people to eat and drink enough to meet their needs and to take their prescribed medicines. Records maintained by staff helped keep others involved in people’s care well informed about their health and wellbeing. Staff understood people’s healthcare needs and how they should be supported with these in a timely and appropriate way.

The provider had systems in place to monitor and review the quality of service that people experienced. They checked with people at regular intervals that the care and support provided was meeting their needs and sought their views about how the service could improve. There were arrangements in place to make sure any accidents, incidents and complaints would be fully investigated and people would be involved and informed of the outcome. The provider worked with others to develop and improve the care and support provided to people.

The provider was continually looking at ways to improve the quality and safety of the service for people. A new electronic records system had been implemented at the service since our last inspection to help staff deliver more responsive and timely care to people. The provider was also able to more effectively monitor that people were getting the right care and support at the right time. Further improvements were planned. The provider was making more information about the service available in a variety of formats to help make these easier for people and staff to read and understand.

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 27 July 2017).

Why we inspected

This inspection was planned based on the previous rating of ‘Good’.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor the service to ensure that people receive safe, compassionate, high quality care. Further inspections will be planned in line with our inspection schedule or in response to concerns.

The service had a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with CQC to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have a legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act and associated regulations about how the service is run.

People contributed to the planning of their care and support. People’s needs and specific preferences for how they wished to be cared for and supported were set out in their personalised support plan. People said staff were able to meet their needs. Staff demonstrated a good understanding about people’s needs and how these should be met. Senior staff reviewed people’s care and support needs regularly to ensure staff had up to date information about these.

People said they felt safe when being supported by staff. Staff had access to appropriate guidance on how to minimise identified risks to people due to their specific needs. This helped to keep people safe from injury or harm in their home and community. Staff were supported to take appropriate action to ensure people were protected if they suspected they were at risk of abuse or being harmed by discriminatory behaviour or practices.

There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. The provider carried out appropriate checks on their suitability and fitness to support people. Staff received relevant training and were well supported by senior staff to meet people's needs. Staff were helpful, considerate and attentive to people’s needs. They provided people with support that was dignified, respectful and which maintained their privacy at all times. They prompted people to be as independent as they could and wanted to be. They supported people to engage and pursue activities and personal interests to promote their overall wellbeing and reduce risks to them from social isolation.

People were encouraged to eat and drink sufficient amounts to meet their needs. Staff supported people to take their prescribed medicines when required. Staff monitored and recorded their observations about people’s general health and wellbeing and shared this information with all involved in people’s care. When they had concerns about people they took appropriate action so that medical care and attention could be sought promptly from the relevant healthcare professionals.

People were satisfied with the care and support they received. The provider had clear aims and objectives about what people should expect from staff and the service in terms of standards and conduct. People knew how to make a complaint if needed and the provider had appropriate arrangements in place to deal with these.

People and staff spoke positively about the leadership of the service and said managers were approachable and supportive. The provider sought people’s views about the quality of care and support provided and how this could be improved. Senior staff used this information along with other audits and checks to monitor and review the quality and safety of the support provided. Where there were any shortfalls or gaps identified through these checks senior staff addressed these promptly. The provider used learning from audits and complaints to improve the service. They also sought to continuously improve by investing in and updating the service so that people continued to receive responsive and effective support from staff.

We checked whether the service was working within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005. Staff received training in the MCA and were aware of their responsibilities in relation to the Act. Records showed people’s capacity to make decisions about aspects of their care was considered when planning their support.