About the service:

Amplelime Healthcare Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. Not everyone using received a regulated activity. CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also take into account any wider social care provided.

At the time of our inspection the service was providing personal care to one person.

This inspection was the first inspection since the service was registered with the Commission on 14 August 2017.

What life is like for people using this service:

The service met the characteristics of requires improvement in three out of the five key questions.

•We found one breach of the regulations in relation to staff training. We also made recommendations in relation to recruitment, seeking consent and good governance.

•Staff had not been adequately supported to ensure that they received training that the provider deemed as mandatory in the service. There were no records to demonstrate care staff had been supported with induction and supervision.

•The systems for checking staff suitability to work with vulnerable adults was not consistently followed. Not all staff had the required number of references. We have made a recommendation in relation to safe recruitment practices.

•There were also good practices within the service.

•People liked using the service. We received positive feedback from relatives of people supported.

•People were protected against abuse, neglect and discrimination. Staff ensured people's safety and acted when necessary to prevent any harm.

•People were assisted to have maximum choice and control of their lives.

•Staff spoke passionately about their roles and wanting to provide quality care.

•Assessments had been carried out before people started using the service. Care records were comprehensive, and person centred. Reviews had been undertaken with the involvement of people and their relatives.

•There was good evidence that equality and diversity had been considered, in particular around those with protected characteristics such as culture race and religion.

•Staff knew people well. They had developed good relationships with people.

•There were up to date systems to support good governance and the monitoring of the service, however these had not been adequately implemented to ensure compliance with regulations.

More information is in the full report.

Rating at last inspection: This inspection was the first inspection since the service was registered with the Commission on 14 August 2017.

Why we inspected: This inspection was part of our scheduled plan of visiting services to check the safety and quality of care people received.

Enforcement: Information relating to the action the provider needs to take can be found at the end of this report.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor the service to ensure that people received safe, high quality care. Further inspections will be planned for future dates. We will follow up on the breaches of regulations and recommendations we have made at our next inspection.