We visited the offices of Clariotts Care Coventry on 19 May 2017. It was an announced visit. We told the registered manager before the inspection visit we were coming so they could arrange for care workers to be available to talk with us.

Clariotts Care Coventry is registered as a domiciliary care service to provide personal care and support to people in their own homes. This was our first inspection of the service which registered with us in March 2016. At the time of our inspection visit the agency supported four people with personal care.

A registered manager was in post. 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. The suitability and character of care workers was checked during the recruitment process before they worked with people who used the service.

The registered manager understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (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 told us care workers arrived at the time expected and stayed long enough to complete the care people required. People said they were supported by care workers who they knew and felt comfortable with. 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 individual needs effectively. People told us care workers had the right skills to provide the care and support they required. Support plans and risk assessments contained relevant information for staff to help them provide the care people needed in a way they preferred.

People knew how to complain and information about making a complaint was available for people. Care workers said if they had any concerns or issues they could raise these 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. The provider had 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 satisfaction surveys, ‘spot checks’ on care workers’ performance and a programme of other checks and audits.

The registered manager was aware of their responsibilities to report events to us. For example they had sent us statutory notifications when events occurred that they had a duty to notify us of.