About the service:

Care2Care is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. At the time of this inspection the service was supporting three people with personal care.

People’s experience of using this service:

People told us they felt safe receiving care from Care2Care. People were supported to raise any concerns about their care and they told us the service responded promptly to resolve any issues.

Medicines were mostly managed safely. Staff were trained to support people with their medicines and their competency to provide this support was checked. We identified improvements could be made to audits completed by the provider, to ensure any medication errors would be quickly identified.

Staff were deployed effectively. The service provided care visits of a minimum of one hour per visit. Staff said this enabled them to care for people in an unrushed manner.

People told us they received care from a small number of regular care workers. People knew which care workers would be visiting them and they told us their care workers knew them well. People told us they received care in accordance with their preferences.

People were involved in developing and reviewing their care plans. They told us they felt in control of the care and support they received. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Staff received a range of training and regular supervision. This supported them to deliver effective care. People told us they thought staff were well trained and they said all staff were kind and caring.

People said the service was flexible and responsive to their needs. They said the managers responded promptly if they raised any issues with them. People gave us examples of how the service had provided them with additional support at times of crisis. They said they could rely on the service to be flexible and supportive at these times.

People and their relatives knew how to complain but they all told us they had not needed to.

Staff told us they enjoyed their jobs. Staff and people using the service all told us they would have no hesitation recommending the service to their own friends and family members.

People using the service, their relatives and staff all told us they thought the service was well managed. Staff said the managers were supportive. Without exception, people and their relatives told us they were happy with the care they received from Care2Care.

More information is in the full report.

Rating at last inspection:

At the last inspection the service was rated good (published 31 October 2016).

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the rating awarded at the last inspection.

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

The inspection took place on 22 and 23 August 2016. The inspection was announced as the service is small and we needed to be sure someone would be available to meet with us.

The last inspection took place in November 2013, at which time the service was found to be meeting all the requirements of the regulations we looked at.

Care2Care provide training, day care, domiciliary care and carer support services to people living in Sheffield and Barnsley. They were providing personal care to two people at the time of our inspection. This inspection looked only at the regulated activity carried out by the domiciliary care service.

The service had 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.

People who used the service told us the staff were caring.

All staff understood what it meant to protect people from abuse. They told us they were confident any concerns they raised would be taken seriously by management.

We saw that safe staff recruitment procedures were followed to ensure that all the required information and documents were in place before staff commenced employment.

Staff were suitably trained to carry out their job roles effectively.

Staff told us and records showed that they received regular supervisions and appraisals. Staff told us they felt supported by management.

People told us they always had the same small team of care staff who knew them well.

Care records were reviewed regularly with the person who used the service. Everyone who was involved in the care and support of the person was asked for their feedback.

People who used the service and their relatives were aware of how to make a complaint. There had been no formal complaints recorded at the service in the previous 12 months. Six written compliments had been received during this time period.

Staff told us they felt supported by their manager and were comfortable raising any concerns.

People who used the service, family members and staff were regularly consulted about the quality of the service.

The service had quality assurance systems in place and up to date policies and procedures which reflected current legislation and good practice guidance.

People's needs were assessed and care and treatment was planned and delivered in line with their individual care plan.

We checked all care plans and saw that each person had individual plans of care that were tailored to their specific needs.

One person told us: “They [the care workers} are always on time and they are kind.” Another person said the care staff were “very helpful.”

We checked the files belonging to all the people who were receiving personal care from the provider. Each file contained details of whether the person had capacity to consent to their care and support. People had signed a contract to confirm that they had given consent. This contract set out exactly what care each person should receive, so that they understood what they were consenting to.

We checked care records and training records. We saw that people who use the service were protected from the risk of abuse, because the provider had taken reasonable steps to identify the possibility of abuse and prevent abuse from happening.

Appropriate checks had been undertaken before staff began work. We checked the files belonging to four staff employed at the service. Each file contained evidence that the provider carried out background checks on staff. This included carrying out a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) or Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and taking up references from previous employers.

People who use the service and their representatives were asked for their views about their care and treatment and they were acted on. There was an annual quality evaluation programme where people were asked to give their views about the service. The results of this were collated and incorporated into an overall report by the registered manager. This gave a picture of the quality and standard of care people received.

We carried out a routine scheduled inspection of this service. We visited the office and spoke with the registered manager about aspects of the organisation and running of the agency. In addition, a support worker came to the office to meet with us so that we could speak with them about working for Care2Care domiciliary care agency.

Staff spoken with said that Care2Care was a very good agency to work for. They told us that they received good support and training so that they could do their jobs well. Staff told us that they were always introduced to people prior to providing support. They said that Care2Care provided good care to people.

During this inspection we telephoned four people that received support from the agency and spoke with them about their experiences of the support they received.

All of the people spoken with confirmed that they had been involved in discussing and reviewing their care needs. They told us that a manager had visited them before support commenced to discuss and agree their support package. People told us that the support they received was personalised to their own individual needs, and they had a copy of their care plan in their home.

Without exception, people spoke very positively about the support they received. They told us that their support workers knew them well and supported them in the way they chose and preferred. They said that support workers were always polite and respectful. People’s comments included; “They (the support workers) are very good. They give me the help I need and I enjoy their company.” “I cannot fault this service.” “I have never had a missed call, they are very reliable.” People spoken with felt that staff understood their needs. They all told us that they felt safe with support workers.