We carried out a review of the data available to us about Sapphire Home Care on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Sapphire Home Care, you can give feedback on this service.
Sapphire Home Care is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to 23 people. The service provides support to a range of people with different needs, including people living with dementia, people with physical disabilities and people with sensory impairments.
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.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were protected from the risk of abuse by staff that understood and followed safeguarding procedures. Staff knew people they supported well and understood how to manage risks to them. There were enough staff to support people safely and systems were effective to identify if there were any issues with staff timings. People were supported with their medicines safely and staff wore appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) to keep people safe.
People and their relatives were positive about the kind and caring nature of staff and the management team. People told us staff supported them to be independent. The management team had effective quality assurance processes in place to monitor the support provided to people. People and their relatives were given regular opportunities to give feedback to the service.
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
The last rating for this service was good (Published 2 August 2018).
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
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.
This was an ‘inspection using remote technology’. This means we did not visit the office location and instead used technology such as electronic file sharing to gather information, and video and phone calls to engage with people using the service as part of this performance review and assessment.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Sapphire Home Care 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.
Sapphire Home Care is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to older adults, people living with dementia, people with an eating disorder, people with a mental health problem and people with learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder.
Not everyone using Sapphire Home Care receives regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided. There were seven people in receipt of personal care when we inspected.
There was a registered manager in post. 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. The registered manager was also one of the directors of the company.
People and their relatives told us they received safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led care. They had nothing but positive feedback about the service they received.
The provider had followed effective recruitment procedures to check that potential staff employed were of good character and had the skills and experience needed to carry out their roles. Staff had attended training relevant to people's needs. They were provided with one to one supervision meetings and regular spot checks to ensure that they were putting their training into practice.
People are supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff support them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice.
Effective systems were in place to enable the provider to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service. People had opportunities to feedback about the service they received.
People were supported and helped to maintain their health and to access health services. Timely action had been taken when people's health changed.
Risks to people's safety and welfare were well managed to make sure they were protected from harm. No accidents and incidents had occurred.
Medicines were well managed. Staff had received medicines training. Medicines had been recorded adequately. Medicines records were audited monthly.
People's support plans were clear for staff about how they should meet people’s care and support needs.
Essential information about people such as their life history, likes, dislikes and preferences were included. Support plans had been reviewed and amended regularly to ensure they reflected each person's current need or specific healthcare needs.
People knew who to complain to if they needed to. The complaints procedure was available in the office and in people had copies within their handbooks in their homes.
People were protected from abuse or the risk of abuse. The registered manager and staff were aware of their roles and responsibilities in relation to safeguarding people.
Some people received support to prepare and cook meals and drinks to meet their nutritional and hydration needs.
There were suitable numbers of staff on shift to meet people's needs. The registered manager worked with people providing care and support on a regular basis. People received consistent support from staff they knew well.
People's information was treated confidentially. People's paper records were stored securely in locked filing cabinets.
People and relatives told us that staff were kind and caring. Staff treated people with dignity and respect.
Staff were positive about the support they received from the management team. They felt they could raise concerns and they would be listened to.