Absolute Care South West Limited is a family run, small domiciliary care agency situated in Honiton. It provides people with personal care and support in their own homes in East Devon. People receiving a service include those living with dementia, mental health needs and with physical and learning disabilities. The inspection took place on 31 May and 2 June 2016 and was announced. At the time of our visit, the agency provided personal care for 42 people in their own homes and employed 17 care staff. The frequency of care visits ranged from a few visits a week up to a maximum of four times a day. At the last inspection in May 2016, we found the service was meeting all the requirements of the regulations.

The service had a registered manager. 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.

People, relatives and professional gave us feedback about the exceptionally caring approach of staff. The agency had a strong, person-centred culture and ethos was to provide people with a personalised individualised service. People valued their relationships with staff. Care staff were motivated and spoke with kindness and compassion about the people who they treated like members of their extended family.

Staff went that extra mile for people, for example, delivering a Sunday roast dinner to people living alone, helping them with paperwork, helping them with practical household jobs and looking after their pets. For another person a staff member regularly provided personal care at 5:30am and transported the person to go on an early morning fishing trip and picked them up at the end of the day. These acts of kindness made people feel really cared for and that they mattered. Staff were exceptional in enabling people to remain independent. They supported a person who was formerly housebound to go out and enabled a young person to be able to exercise and attend school events with their children. Staff treated people with the utmost dignity and respected their privacy.

People, relatives and professional feedback consistently showed the service was person centred and responsive to people’s individual needs and preferences. This enabled people to live as full a life as possible. People's physical and mental well-being had improved because staff supported people to make lifestyle changes, pursue their interests and participate in their locally community. Staff supported another person to lose weight with information, encouragement and practical support which improved their health and mobility.

People's care plans were detailed and comprehensive and described positive ways in which staff could support them. Care records had personalised detailed information about each person, their needs and preferences and what mattered to them. People knew how to raise any concerns or complaints and felt confident to do so. Action was taken in response to make improvements.

People felt safe using the service and said it was reliable. People knew care staff well and said they usually arrived on time and stay for expected length of time. They let them know if they were running late. Staff knew about the signs of abuse and worked closely with health and social care professionals to implement measures to safeguard people.

Staff were aware of risks and risk assessments identified steps staff needed to take to promote people’s safety and welfare. People received their medicines on time and in a safe way. The agency had robust recruitment procedures in place for recruiting new staff.

Staff had the skills and training needed to carry out their role and undertook regular training relevant to needs of people they cared for. People confirmed staff sought their consent before prov

Absolute Care South West Limited is a family run, small domiciliary care agency situated in Honiton that provides people with personal care and support in their own homes in the East Devon area. This includes people living with dementia, mental health needs and with physical and learning disabilities. The inspection took place on the 12 and 18 June 2015 and was the first inspection at this location. At the time of our visit, the agency provided over 400 hours of care for 26 people in their own home and employed 24 care staff.

The provider has two directors, both of whom work in the agency. One is the registered manager in day to day charge of the service. 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.

People felt safe and well supported by staff they knew and trusted and said the service was reliable. People knew how to raise concerns and complaints and said these were addressed to their satisfaction. However, two relatives were unhappy with the provider’s initial attitude when they raised concerns.

People received their medicines on time and in a safe way. People were protected because recruitment procedures were robust. Staff could identify the signs of abuse and knew the correct procedures to follow if they had concerns about suspected abuse.

People were supported by staff that had the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to support their care needs. Staff received regular training and supervision.

Staff were kind and compassionate towards people. They promoted people’s independence, respected their dignity and maintained their privacy.

People were supported to express their views and be involved decision making and were offered choices. The provider understood their responsibilities in relation to the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and acted in accordance with them. Care records included information about how to support people to make day to day decisions for themselves wherever possible. Where people lacked capacity, mental capacity assessments had been completed and relatives and other professionals were consulted in ‘best interest’ decision making.

People received care and support that met their individual needs. They were supported by a regular team of staff they knew well and had developed strong relationships with. People’s care and health needs were assessed and care plans included detailed information for staff about individual care needs. These were reviewed and updated regularly as people’s care needs changed.

The provider promoted a positive culture that promoted a service tailored to people’s individual needs. People were positive about the service they received and they appreciated having care from experienced and skilled care workers. The provider had a range of quality monitoring systems in place. The provider was aware of their strengths and areas for further development. Where they identified areas for improvement, they were taking further steps to make those improvements.