Sandant Care

Updated 19 March 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection team consisted of one adult social care inspector and an expert by experience who made phone calls to people or relatives in their home. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type:

Sandant Care is a domiciliary care agency. It provides care to people living in their own homes.

The service had a manager who was also the provider and was registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection:

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small, and the registered manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

The inspection site visit activity started on the 26 February and ended on the 27 February 2019.

What we did:

Before inspection: We reviewed the information we had received about the service since the last inspection. The provider had completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. The information provided by the provider was used to plan our inspection and was taken into account when we made judgements in this report.

During inspection: We looked at two care files, three staff files to review recruitment, training and supervision records. We looked at records of accidents, incidents, complaints and compliments and reviewed audits, quality assurance reports and surveys.

We spoke with the registered manager and six care staff provided information via a questionnaire. We spoke with one person and two relatives over the phone.

Updated 19 March 2019

About the service: Sandant Care is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to older and younger adults, people living with dementia, people with a physical disability, people with a learning disability or autistic disorder and people with mental health conditions, living in their own home and supported living settings. Not everyone using Sandant Care receives a regulated activity; Care Quality Commission (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 consider any wider social care provided. Sandant Care provided a service to six people at the time of the inspection.

People’s experience of using this service:

People received safe care from regular staff, who understood their needs and what was important to them. The registered manager also provided care to people and led by example. The registered manager had high standards and staff shared these which ensured people received safe, consistent individualised care.

Care and support were based on detailed assessments and care plans, which were reviewed and kept up to date. Staff received appropriate training and supervision to maintain and develop their skills and knowledge to support people according to their needs. Consent to care and support was sought in line with legislation and guidance.

Staff had developed caring relationships with people they supported. Positive outcomes for people exceeded expectations. Staff worked hard to provide a consistently better quality of life for people by supported them to develop in areas such as communication and social interaction. Information was communicated in a range of formats that was accessible to everyone regardless of their ability.

Care and support considered people’s abilities, needs and preferences and reflected their physical, emotional and social needs. People were aware of the providers complaints procedure.

The registered manager placed a clear emphasis on good governance and quality assurance was robust. The culture of the service was person-centred and provided good outcomes for people.

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

Rating at last inspection: This was the services first inspection since becoming registered in October 2017

Why we inspected: This inspection was a scheduled inspection.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.