Archived: Sustain (UK) Ltd

About the service

Sustain (UK) Ltd is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care and support to people in their own homes, either in the community or in supported living accommodation. At the time of the inspection, there were seven people receiving support across seven different properties.

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

There were systems in place to monitor quality and people were supported by staff who had been recruited safely, however the procedures followed when making recruitment decisions were not always recorded. People were given opportunity to feedback on the quality of the service. People and staff spoke positively about the management team.

People felt safe with staff and told us they received support from a consistent staff team. Medicines were managed safely by staff who had received training in how to administer medicines. There were safe infection control practices in place.

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 24 September 2019).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to the recruitment practices of the provider. This included the validity of Disclosure and Barring Checks being completed for staff. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the Key Questions of Safe and Well-led only.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other Key Questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those Key Questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the Safe and Well-Led sections of this full report.

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.

Sustain (UK) Ltd is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care and support to people in their own homes, either in the community or in supported living accommodation. At the time of our visit there were six people receiving care and support from the provider.

People’s experience of using this service:

People were kept safe and secure from risk of harm. Potential risks to people had been assessed and managed appropriately by the provider. People received their medicines safely and as prescribed and were supported by sufficient numbers of staff to ensure that risk of harm was minimised.

Staff had been recruited appropriately and had received relevant training, so they were able to support people with their individual care and support needs.

Staff sought people’s consent before providing care and support. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People were treated with kindness and compassion. People’s rights to privacy and their dignity was maintained and respected by the staff who supported them. People were supported to express their views and be actively involved in making decisions about their care and support needs.

People’s choices and independence were respected and promoted. Staff responded appropriately to people’s support needs. People received care from staff that knew them well.

People using the service were confident about approaching the manager if they needed to. The views of people on the quality of the service was gathered and used to support service development.

The service was consistently well led. The provider had effective auditing systems in place to monitor the effectiveness and quality of service provision.

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

Rating at last inspection:

At our last inspection in January 2017 [published 23/02/2017] we rated the service as good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns.

Follow up:

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

There was a registered manager in post. 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.

Sustain UK is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection Sustain UK provided care and support to eight people. Two people were living in the community and the rest in supported living accommodation. Support is provided to people who may have a physical disabilities, learning disability or mental health needs. The service supports people who require support with personal care needs at specific times of the day.

People felt safe. Staff had received training and understood the different types of abuse and knew what action they would take if they thought a person was at risk of harm. The provider had processes and systems in place that kept people safe and protected them from the risk of harm.

People were supported with their medication by staff that had received appropriate training. People had been involved in the planning of their care and received support in line with their care plan.

People were supported to make choices and were involved in the care and support they received. The provider took actions to ensure people’s legal rights were protected.

Staff were trained and supported so that they had the knowledge and skills to enable them to care people for in a way that met their [people’s] individual needs and preferences. Where appropriate people were supported to access health and social care professionals.

Staff was caring and treated people with dignity and respect. People’s choices and independence was respected and promoted and staff responded to people’s support needs.

People, relatives and staff felt they could speak with the provider about their worries or concerns and felt they would be listened to and were confident changes would be actioned if needed

The provider had quality assurance and audit systems in place to monitor the care and support people received to ensure the service remained consistent and effective.