Archived: Sarmey Healthcare

At the time of the inspection, the location provided care and support for 2 people with a learning disability. We assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

About the service

Sarmey Healthcare is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own homes.

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. At the time of this inspection 43 people were receiving support with personal care.

Right Support

Effective systems were in place to monitor incidents and prompt action was taken to mitigate risk. Staff supported people to have choice, control, and independence over their lives. People were encouraged to be involved in discussions about their care and support. Staff supported people with their medicines in a way that achieved best possible health outcomes. Staff supported people to access health and social care support, which included a regular review of their prescribed medicines.

Right Care

Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and potential harm. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and knew how to report any concerns. There were sufficient numbers of staff who were appropriately skilled to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. People's care and support plans reflected their range of needs and this promoted their wellbeing. Risks to people had been assessed and staff followed the support plan guidance to protect the person from avoidable harm.

Right culture

The service encouraged people to be involved fully in developing their care plans and making decisions about their care and support. Staff supervision, meetings and spot checks were held regularly and used to develop and motivate staff, review their practice, and focus on professional development. Feedback from people and relatives praised the management and staff team. The service evaluated the quality of support provided to people, involving people, their families, and other professionals as appropriate.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was Good (published 31 August 2022)

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to people’s personal care and support needs. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

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

Follow up

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

Sarmey Healthcare is a domiciliary care agency. It provides care for people living in their own houses and flats to enable them to live as independently as possible. 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. At the time of the inspection, 20 people were receiving personal care support.

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

People told us they felt safe within the service. Staff we spoke with were trained and knowledgeable in safeguarding procedures.

Risk were assessed to minimise risks present within people’s lives. Checks and monitoring processes were in place to keep people safe.

Medicines were administered safely by trained staff.

Prompt action was taken as a result of any incidents, to ensure lessons were learnt.

There were enough staff working at the service to keep people safe and meet their needs. Staff were recruited safely and trained to provide care safely.

Audits and checks were in place to ensure the service remained clean and well maintained, as well as to ensure that records were being accurately kept, and people were safe and happy.

Staff felt well supported within their roles and felt able to approach management with any concerns or requests for support.

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.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update.

The last rating for this service was Good which was published on 5th April 2018.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about staffing levels and recruitment procedures. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well led sections of this full report.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service remains Good.

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

Follow up

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

Sarmey Healthcare Limited provides care and support to people who wish to remain in their own homes. Services include personal care, meal preparation, hospital discharge and medication support. At the time of our inspection there were 13 people receiving personal care.

This inspection took place on the 5 and 15 March 2018 and was announced. We had previously inspected this service in February 2016, at that inspection the service was rated ‘Good’. At this inspection, we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and on-going monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns.

The service had a registered manager. 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People felt safe. Staff had been provided with safeguarding training to enable them to recognise signs and symptoms of abuse and how to report them. There were risk management plans in place to protect and promote people’s safety. Staffing numbers were appropriate to keep people safe. There were safe recruitment practices in place and these were being followed to ensure staff who were employed were suitable for their role. People’s medicines were managed safely and in line with best practice guidelines.

Systems were in place to ensure that people were protected by the prevention and control of infection. There were suitable arrangements for the service to make sure that action was taken and lessons learned when things went wrong, to improve safety across the service

People’s needs and choices were assessed and their care provided in line with best practice that met their diverse needs. Staff received an induction process when they first commenced work at the service and received on-going training to ensure they were able to provide care based on current practice when supporting people.

People received enough to eat and drink and staff gave support when required. People were supported to use and access a wide variety of other services and social care professionals. The staff had a good knowledge of other services available to people and we saw these had been involved with supporting people using the service. People were supported to access health appointments when required, including opticians and doctors, to make sure they received continuing healthcare to meet their needs.

Staff demonstrated their understanding of the Mental Capacity Act, 2005 (MCA) and they gained people's consent before providing personal care.

Staff provided quality care and support in a caring and meaningful way and people were very positive about the staff that cared for them. People were given choices about their day-to-day routines and about how they wanted their care to be delivered. People’s privacy and dignity was maintained at all times.

People were listened to, their views were acknowledged and acted upon and care and support was delivered in the way that people chose and preferred. Records showed that people and their relatives were involved in the care planning process. There was a complaints procedure in place to enable people to raise complaints about the service.

People, relatives and staff were encouraged to provide feedback about the service and it was used to drive improvement. Staff felt well-supported and received one to one supervision that gave them an opportunity to share ideas, and exchange information. The registered manager was aware of their responsibility to report events that occurred within the service to CQC and external agencies.

Sarmey Healthcare Ltd provides homecare services for vulnerable adults with enduring mental illness, learning disabilities, older people and people with other complex needs. At the time of our inspection there were seven people using the service.

The service had a registered manager. 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.

Staff were trained in how to protect people from abuse and harm. They knew how to recognise signs of abuse and how to use the whistleblowing procedure. Risk assessments were centred on the needs of the individual. Potential risks to people had been identified and plans put into place to enable them to live as safely and independently as possible.

Robust recruitment checks took place in order to establish that staff were safe to work with people before they commenced employment. There were sufficient numbers of staff available to meet people’s care and support needs.

Medicines were stored, administered and recorded safely and correctly. Staff were trained in the safe administration of medicines and maintained relevant records that were accurate.

Staff received regular training which provided them with the knowledge and skills to meet people’s needs in a person centred manner. They were well supported by the registered manager in respect of supervision and informal support.

Staff sought people’s consent before they provided care and support. Staff and management had a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and the registered manager was knowledgeable about the requirements of the associated legislation.

People were mostly responsible for their own food provision. However where it was needed people could access suitable amounts of nutritious food that they enjoyed and which met their individual preferences and dietary needs. Referrals to other health and social care professionals were made when appropriate; to maintain people’s health and well-being.

There were positive relationships between people, their families and members of staff. People and their families were treated with kindness and compassion. People’s rights in making decisions and suggestions in relation to their support and care were valued and acted on. The privacy and dignity of people was promoted by staff and they treated people with respect.

People received care that was responsive to their needs and centred around them as individuals. People’s needs were assessed and care plans gave clear guidance on how they were to be supported. Records showed that people and their relatives were involved in the assessment and care planning process.

The service had an effective complaints procedure in place and there were appropriate systems in place for responding to complaints. Staff were responsive to people’s worries, anxieties and concerns and acted promptly to resolve them.

The service was well-led with systems to check that the care of people was effective, the staffing levels sufficient, and staff appropriately trained; so they had the skills to provide safe care and support. There was good management and leadership at the service. The registered manager had a clear vision of where they wanted the service to develop in the future.