This inspection took place on 11 and 17 September 2018 and was announced. We visited the registered office on 11 September and made phone calls to people who had consented to a phone call on 17 September 2018.

At the time of our inspection the service was providing small packages of care to 67 people and employed 33 staff.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community [and specialist housing]. It provides a service to older adults and younger disabled adults.

This was the registered providers first inspection due to a change of legal entity in 2017.

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.

Staff were able to describe the process they would follow to report actual or potential abuse and this mostly consisted of reporting the abuse to the line manager. The service had a safeguarding policy in place and staff told us they were aware of the policy. Safeguarding training took place as part of the induction for new staff and was refreshed every year.

Staff recruitment records showed that staff were safely recruited after a series of checks were undertaken on their character and work history. We discussed at the time that some of files viewed would benefit from more detail being in place with regards to employment history.

Risk assessments were in place and were reviewed regularly or when people's needs changed. These contained basic details of how to support the person appropriately, while mitigating risk. They were instructive and clear however, were not personalised in their presentation, which was something the registered manager had identified themselves and were working towards.

Staff were supplied with personal protective equipment (PPE). This included gloves, aprons and hand sanitizer. Staff told us they were always able to ask for more PPE when needed. Staff had completed infection control and prevention training, and understood the importance of reporting outbreaks of influenza and vomiting to the manager, so they could cover their work so as not to spread the infection.

People were supported with their medication in accordance with their assessed needs and in line with recent guidance.

The registered manager and the staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and associated legislation. Some information in care plans with regards to the MCA and consent and best interests required some further development to ensure a consistent approach. We have made a recommendation concerning this.

Staff undertook training in accordance with the registered providers training policy. Staff told us they enjoyed the training. Staff spoken with confirmed they had regular supervision and appraisal.

People were supported as part of their assessed care needs with eating and drinking and staff were aware of people’s preferences.

Additional role specific training took place to help people manage their support needs. The service had recently branched out into offering their own in-house training in partnership with a registered trainer.

Staff supported people to access other healthcare professionals such as GP’s and District Nurses if they felt unwell.

People told us that the carers who visited were all very caring and would always ask them how they were feeling and ask them what they would like help with.

People were complimentary about the caring nature of the staff, and the registered manager, who often completed care calls themselves.

People told us that they were always kept informed and involved in their care.

We did not observe care being delivered, however, people told