Anglia Care provides a personal care service for people living in their own homes. At the time of this announced inspection of 6 September 2017 there were 92 people who used the service. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of our inspection to make sure that someone was available.

At our last inspection of 22 January 2015 the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

There was a registered manager in post. 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.

The service continued to provide a safe service to people. This included systems designed to minimise the risks to people, including from abuse. There were systems in place to make sure that there were enough care workers to cover people’s planned care visits. Robust recruitment procedures were in place. Where people required support with their medicines, this was done safely.

Care workers were trained and supported to meet people’s needs. The service understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2015 and people were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and care workers cared for them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Systems were in place to support people to eat and drink enough, where they required support. People were supported to have access to health professionals where needed.

Care workers had good relationships with people who used the service. People’s views and preferences were listened to and acted on about how they wanted to be cared for and supported.

People received care and support which was planned and delivered to meet their individual needs. A complaints procedure was in place and complaints were acted upon and used to improve the service.

The service continued to have an open and empowering culture and quality assurance systems supported the management to identify shortfalls and address them promptly. As a result the quality of the service continued to improve.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

The inspection took place on the 22 January 2015 and was unannounced.

Anglia Care is a domiciliary care service which provides personal care and support services for a range of people living in their own homes. These included older people, people living with dementia and people with a physical disability.

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.

This is the first inspection of this service under the new provider of Anglia Living Care Services Ltd. The experiences of people were positive. People told us they felt safe, that staff were kind and the care they received was good.

There were good systems and processes in place to keep people safe. Assessments of risk had been undertaken and there were clear instructions for staff on what action to take in order to mitigate them. Staff knew how to recognise the potential signs of abuse and what action to take to keep people safe. The registered manager made sure there was enough staff at all times to meet people’s needs. When the provider employed new staff at the service they followed safe recruitment practices.

Assessments were undertaken to identify people’s support needs and care plans were developed outlining how these needs were to be met. We found that care plans were detailed which enabled staff to provide the individual care people needed. People told us they were involved in the care plans and were consulted about their care to ensure wishes and preferences were met. Staff worked with other healthcare professionals to obtain specialist advice about people’s care and treatment.

The provider had arrangements in place for the safe administration of medicines. People were supported to receive their medicine when they needed it. People were supported to maintain good health and had assistance to access to health care services when needed.

The service considered peoples’ capacity using the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) as guidance. Staff observed the key principles in their day to day work checking with people that they were happy for them to undertake care tasks before they proceeded.

People were supported at mealtimes to access food and drink of their choice where needed. The service had good leadership and direction from the registered manager. Staff felt fully supported by management to undertake their roles. Staff were given training updates, supervision and development opportunities. For example, staff were offered to undertake additional training and development courses to increase their understanding of needs of people using the service.

Feedback was sought by the registered manager via telephones and visits to their homes by the deputy manager to check the quality of service people received. This service was relatively new at the time of our inspection and quality assurance surveys had not been sent out to people, but the service did have plans to put that into place during 2015. People and relatives we spoke with were aware of how to make a complaint and felt they would have no problem raising any issues. The provider responded to complaints in a timely manner with details of any action taken.