Coventry and Warwickshire MIND is registered as a domiciliary care service which provides personal care and support to people in their own homes. The service specialises in supporting people with mental health care needs. The service supports people to develop independent living skills with the aim of living independently. At the time of our inspection visit the agency supported 22 people, six of whom received the regulated activity of personal care.

We visited the offices of Coventry and Warwickshire MIND on 24 November 2016. We told the provider before the inspection visit we were coming so they could arrange for members of staff to be available to talk with us.

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 felt safe using the service and there were processes to minimise risks to people’s safety. These included procedures to manage identified risks with people’s care and for managing people’s medicines safely. Care workers understood how to protect people from the risk of abuse and keep people safe. Care workers suitability and character was checked during the recruitment process to make sure they were suitable to work with people who used the service.

The registered manager understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA), and care workers respected people’s decisions and gained people’s consent before they provided personal care.

There were enough care workers to deliver the care and support people required. People said Care workers arrived around the time expected and stayed long enough to complete the care people required. People told us care workers were kind and knew how they liked to receive their care.

Care workers received an induction when they started working for the service and completed regular training to support them in meeting people’s needs effectively. People told us care workers had the right skills to provide the care and support they required. Care workers told us they had knowledge of how to support people from having time to get to know the individual and through information in their support records and risk assessments.

People knew how to complain and information about making a complaint was available for people. Care workers said they could raise any concerns or issues with the management team, knowing they would be listened to and acted on.

Staff felt supported to do their work and people felt able to contact the office and management at any time. There were systems to monitor and review the quality of service people received and understand the experiences of people who used the service. This was through regular communication with people and staff, returned surveys, spot checks on care workers and a programme of other checks and audits.