Archived: Sentinel Care

Updated 11 July 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 inspector.

Service and service type:

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in [their own houses and flats. It provides a service to older adults and younger disabled adults as well as people living with dementia.

The service was not required to have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. The service is run day to day by the provider. This means that the provider alone is 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 a short period of notice of the inspection visit because we wanted to arrange to speak to people that use the service before visiting the office. Inspection site visit activity started on 28 May 2019 and ended on 4 June 2019. We visited the office location on 4 June 2019 to see the provider and to review care records and policies and procedures.

What we did:

Due to technical problems, the provider was not able to complete a Provider Information Return. 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. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in the report.

We spoke to one person who used the service and one relative. We also spoke to 3 live-in carers and the provider.

We visited the office and reviewed a range of records including one person’s care and support plans as well as medicines management. We also reviewed records relating to the management of the service and policies and procedures. No new live-in carers had joined the service, so we did not review recruitment records. After the inspection we asked the provider to send us some further information relating to live-in carers training. This information was received in a timely manner.

Updated 11 July 2019

About the service:

Sentinel Care is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. The service provides one to one support to people 24 hours per day from live-in carers.

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

People’s experience of using this service:

People using the service were very positive about the care they received and told us that it was “excellent”. People were supported by live in carers who knew them well, they also had a direct relationship with the provider who visited them regularly to ensure that they were happy with the service and check if there had been any change in people’s care needs.

The live-in carers were all very experienced and had cared for each person for a long time. People and their relatives told us that they were confident in their live-in carers. People said they felt safe with the support they had and risks to people were managed. Medicines were managed safely which meant that people were receiving them on time and as prescribed. Where there were incidents or accidents people had been supported appropriately to reduce the risk of these re-occurring.

The live-in carers were not directly employed by the service but were introduced to people. People agreed their own terms and conditions with their live-in carers which enabled them to have control over their care and who provided it for them. Although the provider did not employ the live-in carers they had still completed the necessary checks to ensure that live-in carers were safe to support vulnerable people.

People told us that they were happy with the support they were provided with eating and drinking. If people became unwell they were supported to access appropriate healthcare. The live-in carers also helped people to manage their routine medical appointments and helped them to attend these were this was needed.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and the live-in carers supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. The live-in carers understood that people had the right to make their own choices even where these were not always considered as wise.

People were treated with respect and their privacy and dignity was protected. They were supported to remain independent and encouraged to keep active and mobile.

The live-in carers we spoke to were positive about the support they received and the management of the service. People and their relatives were also positive about how the service was run. The provider learnt lessons from any accidents and incidents and used this learning to make improvements to people’s care.

Rating at last inspection:

At the previous inspection the service was rated Good (Published on 27 October 2016).

Why we inspected:

This inspection was a scheduled inspection based on the previous service rating.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor the service and will visit again in the future to check that the service has maintained its standards of care.