About the service: Cloud 9 Care Limited is a domiciliary care service and is registered to provide personal care to older people and people with physical care needs in their own home. The service covers the Colchester and Clacton areas and at the time of our inspection was supporting 67 people with personal care.

People’s experience of using this service: People received care that was person centred and caring. People told us that they would recommend the service and they felt safe. They told us they were supported by a consistent team of staff who knew them well.

Staff were provided with guidance about how risks to people’s wellbeing should be managed and the steps that they needed to take to keep people safe. Incidents and accidents were analysed by the management of the service for patterns or trends.

Staff suitability was checked prior to their employment however we have recommended that car insurance details are clarified further. Staff received training, support and supervision. Staff performance was monitored to ensure that they were working to the standards required.

People were supported to eat and drink in line with their care plan and nutritional needs.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control over their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

There was a complaints policy in place and people’s concerns were investigated. People told us that they felt comfortable raising concerns.

The registered manager was experienced and committed to providing a good quality service. They lead by example and staff told us that they were approachable and helpful.

Systems were in place to audit the quality of care delivered to people and drive improvement. People’s views were key to this process and regular satisfaction surveys on the quality of care were undertaken.

Rating at last inspection: At our last inspection, the service was rated ‘Good’. Our last report was published on 19 October 2016.

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor all intelligence received about the service to ensure the next planned inspection is scheduled accordingly.

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

This inspection took place on the 16 September 2016 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours' notice of our intention to inspect the service. This is in line with our current methodology for inspecting domiciliary care agencies to make sure the registered manager can be available.

Cloud 9 Care Ltd is a domiciliary care agency. Care and support is provided to people in their own homes.

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.

People told us that they felt safe with staff and would be confident to raise any concerns they had.

The registered manager was also the provider and recruitment procedures were thorough and medicines were managed safely.

The care plans we looked at were detailed and staff we spoke with were able to describe how individual people preferred their care and support delivered and the importance of treating people with respect in their own homes. Where any risks to people were identified we saw action had been taken to mitigate those risks to keep people safe.

There were sufficient staff to provide safe, effective care at the times agreed by the people who were using the service.

There were procedures in place to manage risks to people and staff. Staff were aware of how to deal with emergency situations and knew how to keep people safe by reporting concerns promptly through processes that they understood well.

Staff received an induction and on-going training to make sure they had the right skills and knowledge to provide people with care in their own homes. People and their families were complementary of the services provided.

Up to date information was communicated to staff to ensure they could provide the appropriate care and support for each individual.

Staff knew how to contact healthcare professionals in a timely manner if there were concerns about a person's wellbeing.

The provider had a system to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that people received and identified areas for improvement.

People were asked for their views annually through satisfaction surveys.