Carers Direct Homecare provides personal care and treatment for older people living in their own homes. On the day of the inspection the registered manager informed us that there were a total of 24 people receiving care from the service.

A registered manager was in place. 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Risk assessments were in place to protect people from risks to their health and welfare, though these did not cover all assessed issues. Staff recruitment checks were in place to protect people from receiving personal care from unsuitable staff.

People and relatives we spoke with told us they thought the service ensured that people received safe personal care from staff. Staff had been trained in safeguarding (protecting people from abuse) and understood their responsibilities in this area.

We saw that medicines had been supplied safely and on time, to protect people’s health needs.

Staff had received training to ensure they had skills and knowledge to meet people's needs, though more training was needed on some relevant issues.

Not all staff understood their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) to allow, as much as possible, people to have effective choices about how they lived their lives. Assessments of people's capacity to make decisions were not always detailed to determine whether they needed extra protections in place to keep them safe.

People and relatives we spoke with all told us that staff were friendly, kind, positive and caring. They told us they had been involved in making decisions about how and what personal care was needed to meet any identified needs.

Care plans were individual to the people using the service to ensure that their needs were met.

People and relatives told us they would tell staff or management if they had any concerns, and they were confident these would be properly followed up.

They were satisfied with how the service was run. Staff felt they had been fully supported in their work by the management of the service.

Policies properly set out information about the need to refer to the relevant safeguarding agency. The registered manager was aware that these incidents, if they occurred, needed to be reported to CQC, as legally required.

Management had carried out audits in order to check that the service was meeting people's needs and to ensure people were provided with a quality service, though more detail was needed to fully show what checks had been made.

Carers Direct Homecare Leicester provides personal care for people living in their own homes. The manager informed us that there were 19 people receiving a service from the agency.

This inspection took place on 12 and 16 November 2015. The inspection was unannounced.

A registered manager was in place. 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

We spoke with two people who received a personal care service from the agency and five relatives. We also received survey information from three people that used the service and five relatives. We spoke with three staff and received survey information from 12 staff that worked for the agency and a community professional.

People using the service and the relatives we spoke with said they thought the agency ensured that people received safe personal care. Staff were trained in safeguarding (protecting people from abuse) and generally understood their responsibilities in this area.

Some people’s risk assessments were in need of improvement to help ensure staff understood how to support them safely.

We saw that medicines were given safely and on time. Some improvements were needed to evidence that medicines were always properly supplied to people.

Staff were safety recruited to help ensure they were appropriate to work with the people who used the service.

Staff needed more training on some issues related to people's care to ensure they had the skills and knowledge to be able to fully meet people's needs.

Staff understood their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) to allow, as much as possible, people to have an effective choice about how they lived their lives.

People had were supported to eat and drink and everyone told us they told us that thought the food prepared by staff was satisfactory.

People's health care needs had been protected by timely referral to health care professionals when necessary.

People and relatives we spoke with told us they liked the staff and got on well with them, and we were told of many instances of staff working with people in a friendly and caring way.

People, or their relatives, were involved in making decisions about their care and support.

Care plans were individual to the people using the service and generally covered their health and social care needs though some needed more detail to cover all the needs that people had.

People and relatives told us they would tell staff or management if they had any concerns and were confident they would be followed up. Complaints recording needed improvement to ensure all issues of concern were followed up.

Staff felt that they were supported and were very satisfied with how the agency was run by the manager.

Management carried out audits and checks to ensure the agency was running properly though these needed to be expanded to ensure all essential issues were covered.

During this inspection we visited the homes of three people who used the service to ask them for their views on the service they received. We also spoke with three relatives of people who used the service.

People told us that they felt involved when decisions were made about the support they received. They also told us that staff were courteous and treated them with respect. One relative we spoke with told us, “When the care plan was done we discussed all the requirements.”

People also confirmed that the service was delivered in a reliable way. They told us that staff usually arrived on time and stayed for the expected length of time.

Staff we spoke with understood the types of concerns that may present a risk to the vulnerable people they supported and they were alert to these. They also told us that they felt well supported and found the manager of the service to be approachable and available.

Satisfaction surveys had been sent to people who used the service and also to employees and demonstrated that levels of satisfaction were high.