We carried out an announced inspection on 18 October 2017.

Doves Care Agency provides personal care and support services to adults living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the provider was supporting up to 15 people.

The service has a registered manager in place. 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 provider followed the local authority policy and guidance when dealing with safeguarding people from harm and the staff we spoke with demonstrated a good understanding of safeguarding issues.

There was a robust recruitment procedure to help ensure the staff recruited were suitable to work with the people using the service.

Staffing levels were sufficient to provide the level of care required.

Risk assessments were in place and were regularly reviewed and updated.

Staff were trained to administer medicines safely and had undertaken further training to ensure they could deal with a number of health issues.

Regular checks were undertaken to help ensure on-going competence in this area.

Staff demonstrated a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities. The service demonstrated a commitment to staff training, which was on-going and regular refreshers were undertaken.

Supervisions were undertaken regularly and considered important in offering an opportunity for discussion between staff and management.

Supervisions were used to remind staff of the importance of processes and to review spot checks and further learning required as part of the spot checks.

Care files were clear and comprehensive and contained relevant health and personal information.

The service was flexible and responsive to people’s changing needs, desires and circumstances.

Confidentiality was respected and independence was promoted.

Communication with relatives was on-going throughout the duration of their relative’s involvement with the service.

Comments were encouraged formally and informally and there was a complaints policy in place. Literature given out to families gave the information and opportunity for people to raise concerns or make suggestions.

Feedback was regularly sought from families and people using the service. The service listened and took action to address any concerns and suggestions put forward by people who used the service and their families.

Team meetings were regularly undertaken, giving staff the opportunity to discuss any issues and to share good practice examples.

A number of audits were undertaken to ensure processes were being followed.