County Care (Windsor) provides personal care to children and adults. The services provides care within a large part of Berkshire, including Maidenhead, Windsor, Ascot, Slough, Bracknell and villages near these towns. The service has operated for a period of five years. County Care (Windsor) is provided by a limited company with a registered nurse and social care practitioner as directors. The office is based and operated from a busy commercial hub in Windsor.

Staff provided care to people within their own homes. Services provided ranged from assistance in the morning (including helping people get out of bed, wash, get dressed and have breakfast) shopping, preparation of food, medication prompting and assistance with evening care routines. People also received end of life care.

At the time of the inspection, there was 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.

The service has not previously been inspected since registration at the current location. Therefore, this is the first inspection of the location under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 and rating required by the Care Act 2014. Previous inspections at the prior office location were completed by us, but are now archived. You can view all previous inspections of this service on our website.

At the time of the inspection, 43 people used the service and there were 49 staff. People received calls in their house at set times throughout the day. The service also operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week and people, relatives, staff and healthcare professionals could telephone the service at any time to receive support. After hours, calls were diverted to the on-call supervisor or manager’s mobile telephone.

People were protected against abuse or neglect. People’s and relatives’ opinions of safe care were overall positive. We made a recommendation about recruitment checks and personnel files. There were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs and the service appropriately determined correct staff deployment. Feedback from people and relatives indicated calls were made on time without delays. People’s medicines were administered, stored and disposed of appropriately. The service needed to ensure that medicines administered were always signed for.

We found staff received induction, most training, supervisions and most performance appraisals. We made a recommendation to the provider about appropriate oversight of all support provided to staff. Consent was gained before care for a person was commenced and people’s right to refuse care was respected by care workers.

Staff were kind and caring. People’s comments showed they were satisfied with the care they received. We determined care workers respected people’s privacy and dignity, and ensured people remained as independent as possible. People had regular opportunities to provide feedback to the service and also have a say in their care package.

The service was responsive to people’s needs. People had the ability to share their compliments, concerns and complaints in an open and transparent manner. Where feedback was provided by people or relatives, management would undertake necessary investigations, make changes to their care package and report back to the person. People’s care plans were person-centred.

There was positive engagement by the service with community health professionals and commissioners. There was a good workplace culture, and staff expressed their satisfaction of working for County Care (Windsor). Appropriate audits were completed, recorded and reviewed to drive improvements in care.