Excellent Care is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care and support to people in their own homes, within the Caterham area. They also provide support to people with domestic tasks such as housework. At the time of our inspection the service was providing care and support to one person.

Excellent Care also run an employment agency where they provide staff to care homes. This is not regulated by CQC and was therefore not inspected.

The inspection took place on the 24 February 2017 and was announced.

The service had a registered manager who was in day to day charge of the service. 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 had an understanding of abuse and the safeguarding procedures that should be followed to report abuse. The staff we spoke with were able to demonstrate what they would do should they have any concern that abuse was taking place.

People had risk management plans in place. The person we spoke with were aware of the need for risk assessing and were happy with what was in place to support them. Staff were aware of risks associated with people and the guidance to minimise these.

There were enough staff deployed to meet the needs of the person. People told us staff always stay for the full length of the call.

Staff recruitment procedures ensured that appropriate pre-employment checks were carried out to ensure only suitable staff worked at the service. Staff induction training and on-going training was provided to ensure they had the skills, knowledge and support they needed to perform their roles.

People were supported to receive their medicines when they needed them. We were told by the majority of people we spoke to they did not have any issues with medicines and that they received them when necessary.

Staff were well supported by the registered manager, and had regular one to one supervisions, and spot checks. The staff we spoke with were confident that the support they received enabled them to do their jobs effectively.

People's direct consent was gained before any care was provided and the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 were met.

People were able to choose the food and drink they wanted and staff supported them with this. If required, staff supported people to access health appointments. We saw that people had information about their likes and dislikes with food and drinks, and dietary requirements recorded within their files.

Staff treated people with kindness, dignity and respect and spent time getting to know them and their specific needs and wishes. People were involved in their own care planning and were able to contribute to the way in which they were supported.

The service had a complaints procedure in place, however no complaints had been received in the past year.

Feedback was sought by the management via surveys which were sent to people and their relatives. Survey results were positive and any issues identified acted upon.

Quality monitoring systems were in place and when audits were being conducted there was evidence that actions were taken to address issues drive future improvement.