Embrace UK Community Support Centre is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own flats and houses in the community. At the time of this inspection 40 people were receiving personal care and support.

This inspection took place on 23 and 25 April 2018 and was announced. This was the first inspection of this service since they became registered in 2012. The service has only been operational for nine months.

There was a registered manager for the service who was also the provider. 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.

Staff were knowledgeable about safeguarding and whistleblowing procedures. The provider had safe recruitment processes in place. There were enough staff to ensure visits to people were not missed. Risk assessments were carried out to mitigate the risks of harm people may face. There were systems to manage people’s medicines. However, medicines taken as needed were not always fully recorded. People were on the whole protected from the risks associated with the spread of infection but occasionally staff did not have access to enough personal protection equipment.

People had an assessment of their needs to ensure the provider could meet their needs. New staff received induction training at the start of their employment and staff were offered refresher training to maintain their skills. Staff were supported with regular supervisions to ensure they could deliver care effectively. People were supported to eat a nutritionally balanced diet and to maintain their health. The provider and staff knew about their responsibility to obtain consent from people before delivering care.

Staff described how they developed caring relationships with people they supported. People and their relatives were included in the care planning process. Staff were knowledgeable about equality and diversity. People’s privacy and dignity was promoted and their independence was maintained.

Care records were personalised and contained people’s preferences. Staff understood how to deliver a personalised care service. The service had a complaints procedure. People and their relatives knew how to make a complaint if they were not happy with any aspect of the service.

People and their relatives spoke positively about the management of the service. The provider had a system to obtain feedback from people and their relatives about the quality of the service in order to make improvements where needed. Staff had regular meetings so they could contribute to the development of the service. The provider carried out spot checks and quality assurance checks of the work of staff to monitor the quality of the service being delivered. The provider worked with other agencies to share good practice and find ways to make improvements to their service.

We have made three recommendations regarding safe management medicines, controlling the risk of spread of infection and effective quality assurance.