Sunhaven

Updated 18 March 2021

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of four inspectors. Two inspectors visited the service and two inspectors worked remotely. One inspector gathered information from the registered manager via email and both inspectors working remotely contacted people and staff by telephone to discuss their experiences of the service.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support service.

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

Notice of inspection

Our inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of our visit because the service was inspected during the coronavirus pandemic and we wanted to be sure we were informed of the service's coronavirus risk assessment for visiting healthcare professionals before we entered the building. We also needed to check the availability of the registered manager.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we had received about the service since it became registered with us. We also reviewed records we had requested from the registered manager prior to our visit. We used this information to plan our inspection.

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

During the inspection

We spoke with seven people and a relative who used the service about their experience of the care and support provided. We spoke with nine staff including the operations director, registered manager, safeguarding and training lead, and care staff.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records, complaints, accidents and incidents, safeguarding, training, staff recruitment and medicine records. We looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service including policies and procedures, and quality monitoring records.

Updated 18 March 2021

About the service

Sunhaven is a housing with care facility. 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. Sunhaven has 36 apartments where people live. At the time of our visit 19 people living in the apartments received care calls to support them with personal care. Others lived independently and did not require support.

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

Arrangements for managing infection control were in place but some improvement was needed to ensure this was managed safely consistently. People had risk management plans in place to support staff in managing risks associated with people’s care. Sometimes these lacked detail, to ensure potential risks were managed effectively. Staff supported people with their medicines where needed. However, medicine procedures were not always reflective of good practice guidance. People told us they felt safe living at Sunhaven and spoke positively of the staff that supported them. There were sufficient staff to provide the number of care calls people needed and people felt staff were responsive to their needs. Arrangements were in place to ensure staff were recruited safely and to ensure they completed essential training so they could support people in a safe way. Staff knew how to recognise potential abuse and how to respond to this.

People’s needs were assessed prior to them receiving care and support calls, and information in care plans, helped staff to support people in accordance with their needs. However, information in some care plans was not clear to support staff in meeting people’s needs effectively. 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. People confirmed staff sought their consent before providing support. People were supported with food and drinks during care calls if this had been agreed. A cafeteria within the premises enabled people to access meal deliveries where they could not access this, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

People said staff were caring. Staff knew people well, so they knew how to provide care and support in ways people preferred. People were supported to access healthcare professionals if needed. Staff understood the importance of respecting people’s privacy, dignity and individuality and aimed to support people to be as independent as possible.

The provider had quality monitoring systems to check people received safe care and support. However, systems failed to provide sufficient oversight of the service to ensure risks were always identified and managed. Records were not always sufficient to demonstrate potential risks would be identified and acted upon.

People were happy living at Sunhaven and knew of the complaints process should they have any concerns about the service. Staff spoke positively of working at the service and of the support they received.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 14/10/2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the registration date of the provider.

Follow up

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