Our inspection of Body & Soul Assistance took place on 24 July 2017. The inspection was announced since the provider operated a domiciliary care agency and we needed to ensure they were available. This was the first inspection of the service at the current premises.

Body and Soul Assistance is a small domiciliary care agency based in Addingham, near Ilkley. It offers 24 hour care to people with a physical disability.

There is currently one person receiving care and support who is also the provider and registered manager.

There is a registered manager at 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.

On the date of the inspection, the service was providing limited personal care to one person. We spoke with this person. They told us they were very happy with the care provided and felt safe. They said staff offered good and effective care and support.

Safeguarding policies and procedures were in place. Staff understood how to recognise signs of abuse and had received safeguarding training. Procedures were in place for reporting of incidents/accidents.

Relevant risk assessments were in place and care records were person specific with a focus on maintaining independence and respecting personal preferences.

Sufficient staff were deployed and training was in place so staff had the required skills to provide safe and effective care and support. Safe recruitment procedures were mostly in place. Staff appeared caring and kind and knew the care needs of the person they were supporting.

Informal staff meetings took place although these were not documented. Supervision and spot checks took place on an on-going basis due to the unique nature of the service, although these were not documented. Staff confirmed these took place. Annual appraisals were to be implemented when staff attained over two years' service. Staff morale was good and staff worked together as a team.

A medicines policy and appropriate medicines support was in place.

The registered manager had a good understanding of their legal responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. We saw evidence of consent in care records and through our observations during the inspection.

Appropriate nutritional and health care needs support was provided.

A complaints process was in place although no complaints had been received over the last 12 months.

The registered manager was aware of the need to have formal audit processes in place if the service was to expand. Staff told us the registered manager was supportive and they enjoyed working at the service.