Sante Care At Home was first registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in August 2015. This is the first inspection of the service since registration. This inspection took place on 29 June 2017 and was announced. The service is a small domiciliary care agency that provides people with personal care and support in their own home. People using the service had a wide range of healthcare needs. The service specialises in providing live in care services. Live in care is where staff live and work with people in their home, providing personal care and support as required. At the time of this inspection there were five people using the service.

The service had a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with CQC to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have a legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act and associated regulations about how the service is run.

People contributed to the planning of their care and support. People’s needs and specific preferences for how they wished to be cared for and supported were set out in their personalised support plan. People said staff were able to meet their needs. Staff demonstrated a good understanding about people’s needs and how these should be met. Senior staff reviewed people’s care and support needs regularly to ensure staff had up to date information about these.

People said they felt safe when being supported by staff. Staff had access to appropriate guidance on how to minimise identified risks to people due to their specific needs. This helped to keep people safe from injury or harm in their home and community. Staff were supported to take appropriate action to ensure people were protected if they suspected they were at risk of abuse or being harmed by discriminatory behaviour or practices.

There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. The provider carried out appropriate checks on their suitability and fitness to support people. Staff received relevant training and were well supported by senior staff to meet people's needs. Staff were helpful, considerate and attentive to people’s needs. They provided people with support that was dignified, respectful and which maintained their privacy at all times. They prompted people to be as independent as they could and wanted to be. They supported people to engage and pursue activities and personal interests to promote their overall wellbeing and reduce risks to them from social isolation.

People were encouraged to eat and drink sufficient amounts to meet their needs. Staff supported people to take their prescribed medicines when required. Staff monitored and recorded their observations about people’s general health and wellbeing and shared this information with all involved in people’s care. When they had concerns about people they took appropriate action so that medical care and attention could be sought promptly from the relevant healthcare professionals.

People were satisfied with the care and support they received. The provider had clear aims and objectives about what people should expect from staff and the service in terms of standards and conduct. People knew how to make a complaint if needed and the provider had appropriate arrangements in place to deal with these.

People and staff spoke positively about the leadership of the service and said managers were approachable and supportive. The provider sought people’s views about the quality of care and support provided and how this could be improved. Senior staff used this information along with other audits and checks to monitor and review the quality and safety of the support provided. Where there were any shortfalls or gaps identified through these checks senior staff addressed these promptly. The provider used learning from audits and complaints to improve the service. They also sought to continuously improve by investing in and updat