We carried out a review of the data available to us about The Sanctuary Community 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 The Sanctuary Community Care, you can give feedback on this service.
The Sanctuary Office is a domiciliary care provider. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. The Care Quality Commission (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 13 people were receiving personal care from the service.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were supported by regular care staff that had built trusting and supportive relationships with people using the service. We received positive comments such as, “I would definitely recommend The Sanctuary to others, the care [Family member] receives is absolutely brilliant.” And, “The staff are so professional, the care is very person centred, the staff have brought [Family member] out of their shell, [Family member] looks forward to their visits.”
Risks to people's health and wellbeing were assessed. Care plans and risk assessments provided staff with information and guidance on how to safely manage the risks.
Where the provider took on the responsibility people's medicines were safely managed. Infection control practice was embedded into the service.
Staff received safeguarding training and understood their roles and responsibilities in protecting people from all forms of abuse and avoidable harm. Staff were safely recruited and trained to meet the needs of people using the service. Supervision and support systems were in place to ensure staff were supported to fulfil their roles and responsibilities. The staffing arrangements ensured people received care and support according to their assessed needs.
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's independence was promoted, and their privacy and dignity were respected by staff.
People and relatives were involved in the initial planning and ongoing care reviews. People's views were continuously sought to help drive service improvement.
The registered manager and the staff team worked in partnership with health and social care professionals to ensure people received care following a consistent approach.
The registered manager was committed to providing a service that promoted person centred care. Systems and processes were in place to continually monitor quality and safety and oversight of the service. The registered manager understood their legal responsibilities and continually worked towards driving improvement at the service.
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 requires improvement (published 26 September 2019). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 16 August 2019 and breaches of legal requirements were found.
The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve, in regulations 12: Safe care and treatment, 17: Good governance and 19: Fit and proper persons employed of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.
We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met the legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Effective and Well-led which contain those requirements.
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 has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Sanctuary Office 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.
The Sanctuary Office is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own homes in the towns and villages of east Northamptonshire. At the time of inspection there were 14 people receiving personal care.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The service was owned and managed by an individual.
Improvements were required in the assessment and monitoring of the quality and safety of the service. The manager did not have systems in place to identify issues which required actions to make improvements to the service.
People’s medicines were not always managed in a safe way.
People’s risks had not been assessed, however, care plans did provide clear guidance for staff on how to provide safe care.
Staff had not always been recruited using safe recruitment procedures. However, the manager had checked whether staff had previous criminal convictions by completing checks through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
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; however, the policies and systems in the service required updating to support this practice.
Staff understood their roles and responsibilities to safeguard people from the risk of harm. People were supported to access relevant health and social care professionals.
People received their care at the agreed times from staff they knew. People and relatives found staff to be kind and respectful. Staff had a good understanding of people's needs, choices and preferences.
People were encouraged to make decisions about how their care was provided and their privacy and dignity were protected and promoted. Staff gained people's consent before providing personal care.
People were involved in the planning of their care which was person centred and updated regularly. People were supported to express themselves, their views were acknowledged and acted upon. There was a complaints system in place and people were confident that any complaints would be responded to appropriately.
Staff received training to enable them to meet people’s needs and were supported to carry out their roles.
We have made two recommendations about sourcing risk assessments and mental capacity assessments which are based on best 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 5 January 2017).
Enforcement
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements.
We have identified breaches in relation to risk assessments, medicines management, staff recruitment and quality monitoring at this inspection. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.
You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.
The provider was also the registered manager at the time of our inspection. 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.
People received care from staff that were friendly, kind and caring; passionate about providing the care and support people needed and wanted to enable them to stay in their own homes.
Staff had the skills and knowledge to provide the care and support people needed and were supported by a provider who was visible and approachable, receptive to ideas and committed to providing a high standard of care.
People had care plans that were personalised to their individual needs and wishes. Records contained detailed information to assist care workers to provide care and support in an individualised manner that respected each person's individual requirements and promoted treating people with dignity.
Staffing levels ensured that people received the support they required safely and at the times they needed. The recruitment practice protected people from being cared for by staff that were unsuitable to work in their home.
Staff understood the need to protect people from harm and knew what action they should take if they had any concerns. People told us that they felt cared for safely in their own home. Staff understood their role in caring for people with limited or no capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
The provider was closely involved in the day to day running of the agency and continually monitored the quality of the service provided. Staff and people were confident that issues would be addressed and that any concerns they had would be listened to and acted upon.