Sunflower Home Care

Who we are

Sunflower Home Care is the newest provision from Highland Hospice, bringing home-based health and social care to rural and remote communities across the Highlands.

In 2017 we recognised that there was a lack of health and social care in many of the more rural and remote areas across the Highlands. So we decided to try and help these communities. We know from years of experience that, wherever possible, people want to live in their own home for as long as they can and with Sunflower Home Care we can help them do that.

At Highland Hospice we’ve always been passionate about giving people the very best standard of care when they need it most, and now with Sunflower Home Care, our vision is to ensure that everyone across the Highlands has access to the care they need where they need it most.

What we do

We work in partnership with the NHS, who identify those in need of a little extra help at home. Our fully trained staff then organise a visit and provide varying levels of care, all tailored to the individual's needs. This care can vary from getting someone up and dressed or reminding them to take their medications, to prepping meals and providing some much-needed company.

Partner with us

We rely on our community partnerships to ensure we work together with each local community to meet their needs. We currently work with 3 Glens in Fort Augustus, Glengarry and Glenmoriston and Boleskine Community Care in Stratherrick and Foyers. Read more about our partners here. These partnerships have been instrumental in Sunflower Home Care’s successful set up. Partners help us to raise awareness of this new provision within each community and provide much needed funding for things like training and uniforms. They even help us to recruit the very best local teams and we really couldn't provide this service without them.

If you’re interested in finding out more about becoming a community partner and helping us to provide home-based health and social care within your local rural or remote Highland community, please contact Vicky to find out more.

Working together, we can achieve more.

Duty of Candour Reporting

Duty of Candour is a legal requirement to ensure that if something goes wrong in health and social care services the people affected are offered an explanation, an apology and an assurance that staff will learn from this error. The learning is shared with the people affected and throughout Scotland.

You can download our most recent Duty of Candour report for the Sunflower Home Care service here.

Care Inspectorate Report December 2021

Our Sunflower Home Care service was inspected by the Care Inspectorate on 1st December 2021 and gained a good grading after just 12 months of operation.

Inspectors spoke to eight people or their representatives, two external health professionals and a number of staff. In evaluating quality, a scale where one is unsatisfactory and six is excellent was used and Good rates a four. The inspection covered how well people’s wellbeing was supported, and the standard of Sunflower’s care regarding the Covid-19 pandemic.

The report said:

“Strengths of the service were good communication and a focus on promoting individuals’ independence and choice.

“People’s wellbeing was supported to a good level. It was apparent that people experienced support that promoted their independence, dignity and choice.

“Staff were kind and caring.

“People were supported by a consistent staff group which meant people trusted their carers and felt safe with them.

“Some people felt staff needed more time to support them in an unhurried manner, however overall people were highly satisfied with the care and support they received.”

Comments from service users included: “Some staff have plenty of time and others are rushing.”

Another stated: “The girls are lovely, the care is excellent; they’re kindly souls.”

You can read the full report here.