This was an announced inspection carried out on 19 May 2017. The provider was given short notice of the visit to the office, in line with our current methodology for inspecting domiciliary care agencies. This is the first inspection of the service since it was registered in March 2015.

Custom Home Care provides domiciliary care to adults in the community. The office is in Sheffield and is accessible by public transport. At the time of the inspection the service was being provided to around 40 people, all of whom were receiving personal care.

There was no registered manager in post at the time of the inspection. 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 previous registered manager had left and the provider had appointed a manager who told us they were in the process of applying to be registered with CQC.

People’s needs had been assessed before their care package commenced and people and their relatives told us they had been involved in formulating and updating the care plans. The information included in the care records we saw was individualised and clearly identified people’s needs and preferences, as well as any risks associated with their care and the environment they lived in.

We found people received a service that was based on their personal needs and wishes. Changes in people’s needs were identified and their care package amended to meet their assessed needs. Where people needed support taking their medication this was administered by staff who had been trained to carry out this role. The service had clear medication policies to ensure staff could offer support to people safely.

We found the service employed enough staff to meet the needs of the people being supported. This included consistently providing the same care staff, who visited people on a regular basis.

There was an appropriate recruitment checks in place when employing new staff. We found staff had received a structured induction and essential training at the beginning of their employment. This had been followed by regular refresher training to update their knowledge and skills. Staff knew how to recognise and respond to abuse appropriately. They had a clear understanding of the procedures in place to safeguard vulnerable people from abuse.

Staff told us they felt well supported and received an annual appraisal of their work performance. Staff had also received supervision sessions and spot checks to assess their capabilities and offer support.

The requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) were in place to protect people who may not have the capacity to make decisions for themselves. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 sets out what must be done to make sure that the human rights of people who may lack mental capacity to make decisions are protected, including balancing autonomy and protection in relation to consent or refusal of care or treatment.

People were confident to raise any concerns they may have had. We saw the complaints process was written in a suitable format for people who used the service.

People were encouraged to give their views about the quality of the care provided to help drive up standards. Quality monitoring systems were in place and the manager had overall responsibility to ensure lessons were learned and action was taken to continuously improve the service.