This inspection took place on 8 December 2016 and was announced, which meant we told the provider 48’ hours in advance because the service is small and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

This was the first inspection since registering with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in April 2015.

Conquest Care and Support LTD is a small domiciliary care service, which provides care in people’s homes. During the day of our inspection the service provided personal care support to three people, these included older people and children. The service had five care workers employed. At the time of our inspection the provider also acted in the role of the 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.

Policies, procedures and information available in relation to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) ensured that people who could not make decisions for themselves were protected. Care workers demonstrated a good understanding of how to obtain consent for care from people who used the service.

People’s health care needs were assessed, and care planned and delivered in a consistent way. Risks associated with people’s care needs were assessed and updated when needs had changed.

Care plans were tailored to people’s unique and individual needs.

Care workers were provided with mandatory training, for example safeguarding adults, manual handling, food safety and medicines awareness.

Relatives told us that staff respected people’s privacy and dignity and worked in ways that demonstrated this.

Relatives said, and care records confirmed that people’s preferences had been recorded and that staff worked well to ensure these preferences were respected.

Relatives told us they were able to complain and felt confident to do so if needed.

Relatives and care workers told us that they provided their views about the quality of the service to the registered manager and were confident that actions would be taken to address suggestions for improvements.