Sylvian Care Southampton

Updated 24 May 2023

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was completed by an inspector and an Expert by Experience. 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

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave a short period notice of the inspection so the registered manager could contact people and their relatives to ask them to agree to talk with us on the phone, during the inspection process.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed information we held about this service since it registered and contacted social care commissioners to provide feedback. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager, 5 staff members and the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We completed site visits to the office location on 21 and 30 March 2023 and sought feedback from 5 people and 7 relatives on 28 March 2023 via telephone about their experience of the care provided.

We reviewed a range of records related to the service people received. This included 3 peoples medicines administration records, 5 peoples care plans, staff training records, 3 staff recruitment records and various audits in place to oversee and monitor the service.

Updated 24 May 2023

About the service

A&F Prime Care Ltd Office is a home care service providing personal care to people in their own home. The service provides support to people with a range of needs including older adults who may be living with dementia, a physical disability, younger adults, or people who have a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder. At the time of our inspection there were 37 people using the service.

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

We found improvements were required to ensure people consistently received their prescribed medicines safely and in-line with best practice guidance. We found the provider did not always ensure they met their legal duty to safeguard people when information of concern was raised in an effective or timely way. Most risks to people were identified, assessed, and managed and people were supported to meet their needs by consistent and appropriate levels of staff 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; However, we have recommended the provider reviews their policies and systems in place to ensure they fully reflect and embed the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to consistently support this practice. People’s nutritional needs were met, however we found records relating to people’s food and fluid intake could be improved.

We received consistently positive feedback from people and their loved ones that they were provided with kind, caring and compassionate support. People were treated with dignity and respect and staff promoted people’s independence where possible.

Peoples care records were person centred and captured their personal history, things that were important to them and their preferences. However, we found several examples where information was not consistent, accurate or up to date to reflect the care they received.

Quality assurance and governance systems in place were not always effective or robust. Although there was a range of auditing systems in place, they did not identify the concerns we found at this inspection.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

At the time of the inspection, the location did not care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

Right Support: Model of Care and setting that maximises people’s choice, control and independence.

Right Care: Care is person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy, and human rights. We received consistent feedback from people and their relatives that staff supported people in a kind, respectful and dignified manner.

Right Culture: The ethos, values, and attitudes of leaders strived to support people using services to receive personalised care.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.ukRating at last inspection and update

This service was registered with us on 29 April 2021 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to the safe use of medicines, taking appropriate action to consistently safeguard adults at risk and good governance. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

We have recommended the provider continues to review and embed their processes when decisions are made in people’s best interest to ensure this is in line with the requirements.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from 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 continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.