About the service: Action for Children Herts Domiciliary Care is a domiciliary (home care) care agency. It gives personal care to children and young adults living in their own houses and flats. There was one young adult receiving the regulated activity at the time of the inspection.

People’s experience of using this service:

We could not speak with the person using the service or their parents to ask for feedback on the service they received. This meant that we had to base our judgement on what the manager and staff told us as well as the information we reviewed when we visited the service’s office. Following our visit to the office we had a meeting with the provider and the manager of the service to discuss the provider`s plans to develop the service.

The person who received support in their own home regularly used another respite service owned by the provider. Staff working in the respite service supported the person twice a week with personal care in their own home.

A specific care plan was not developed for the care the person received in their own home. The care plan from the respite service had been used to provide the care. Staff told us they knew how to support the person safely because they were supporting them for a long time.

Risk assessments were developed to assess health risk and risk when using equipment, however these were not specific to the support the person received in their own home.

Staff told us they received training relevant to their roles, however this did not always include training relevant to staff who supported adults.

The provider had no effective governance systems in place for this service as only one person was using this service at the time of inspection. However, they sent us their action plan to evidence how they were planning to develop the service and implement robust governance systems.

Rating at last inspection: Good. (Last report published on 20 May 2016).

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service to ensure the next inspection is scheduled accordingly.

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

We carried out an announced inspection on 5 April 2016 and made telephone calls to people who used the service and staff on 21 April 2016.

Action for Children is a community based service providing home care support to children and young people living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection, there were six people being supported by the service.

The service has a Registered Manager in place. 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.

There were risk assessments in place that gave guidance to staff on how risks to people could be minimised. Staff knew how to safeguard people from the risk of possible harm.

The provider had effective recruitment processes in place and there were sufficient staff to support people safely. Staff understood their roles and responsibilities and would seek people’s consent before they provided any care or support. Staff received supervision and support, and had been trained to meet people’s individual needs.

People were supported by caring and respectful staff. Staff felt that they were given the opportunity to get to know the people they supported. Relatives we spoke with felt comfortable with the care staff supporting their children.

People’s needs had been assessed, and care plans took account of their individual, preferences, and choices. Care plans were adapted around school routines and holidays.

The provider had a formal process for handling complaints and concerns. They encouraged feedback from people and acted on the comments received to continually improve the quality of the service. The provider also had effective quality monitoring processes in place to ensure that they were meeting the required standards of care.