Forest Homecare is a domiciliary care agency which provides personal care and support to people in order for them to maintain their independence within their own home. Some of the people supported by the service are living with dementia. The agency operates from offices based in Sible Hedingham and supports people living in the local area. At the time of our inspection Forest Homecare provided services to 322 people.

This was the first comprehensive inspection of the service. The previous inspection took place on 22 January 2014; at this time the service was found to be non-compliant in one area, records. This area was reviewed on 5 February 2014 and at this point it was found to be compliant with the regulations.

The inspection took place on 20 and 21 December 2016 and was announced. The service provided support to people living in their own homes, therefore to ensure that they were at home and to arrange a convenient time for us to visit them the service was given 48 hours’ notice of the inspection.

The service had a registered manager in post; however they were on annual leave at the time of the inspection and so were not present. They were also the registered manager for three additional services within the organisation therefore the director of operations took responsibility for the day to day management 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.

People supported by the service, and their relatives, consistently spoke highly of the staff who visited them and the care that they received. The service placed a strong emphasis on promoting independence and empowering people wherever possible. People spoke positively about the quality of service describing staff as polite, reliable, caring and professional in their approach to their work and explained how staff went the extra mile to ensure their needs were met. We were told of occasions where the service had gone above and beyond what was expected of them.

Individual risk assessments were in place to mitigate the risk of harm. Staff were aware of the need to promote and maintain people's safety whilst taking a person centred approach to risk. This enabled people to take calculated risks which enhanced their well-being and enabled them to live as they chose within their home.

People were kept safe by staff who received training on how to recognise signs of abuse and were clear about what action to take if any concerns arose.

People were supported in line with the legislation of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) and no unnecessarily restrictive practices were in place. The MCA provides a legal framework for making particular decisions on behalf of people who may lack the mental capacity to do so for themselves. The Act requires that, as far as possible, people make their own decisions and are helped to do so when needed. When they lack mental capacity to take particular decisions, any made on their behalf must be in their best interests and as least restrictive as possible. There were effective systems in place to ensure that people’s medication, money and personal information was kept safe. Accidents and incidents were managed promptly and, where necessary, thorough investigations had been undertaken.

The service had a robust recruitment process in place to ensure that staff had the necessary skills and attributes to support people using the service. Careful consideration had been given to ensure newly employed staff shared the values and beliefs of the organisation and to ensure the delivery of high quality care alongside the existing staff team. New members of staff completed a robust induction programme during which they spent time working alongside more experienc

We spoke with four people who used the service and with the relative of a person using the service. They were all complimentary about the service. One person said, "We did not know what to expect but everything is fine." Another person said, "They are always very helpful, I have no complaints."

Care plans were fully completed and identified people's needs and how they wished their support to be provided.

The service had several ways of ensuring that the care provided was meeting people's needs and was of a high quality. Regular reviews, spot checks, and audits were included in the provider's quality assurance process.

People with whom we spoke told us that they were very happy with the care and support that they were receiving from Forest Home Care Limited. They told us that the staff were always friendly and cheerful and were also always very polite and respectful when supporting people. Some people with whom we spoke told us that the service was 'Brilliant' whilst others said it was 'excellent' or 'Very good.'

We inspected this service over four days. In the first week we visited the office and looked at records relating to the management of the business. We inspected four care plans which showed us how people’s needs were assessed and how care was planned, delivered and evaluated to make sure it was effective. We spoke with nine staff managing the care and delivering the service. Staff told us they were well supported and received the required training for their role.

We send out surveys to 60 people and 39 were returned. The main areas of concern raised by respondents were; carers coming late or too early and inadequate planning to cover for sickness and holidays. Some people said the service was not fully delivered either because staff did not stay the allocated amount of time or because staff were inexperienced and did not know what was expected of them.

Those that responded reported that generally when a complaint has been made to Forest Homecare Limited the respondent was happy with the outcome and action taken. Positive comments were made about individual carers.

We accompanied a care worker and a care coordinator on their rounds and met eleven people using the service. Whilst at people’s homes we took the opportunity to look at their care records including financial and medication records. We found on the whole records were well kept but improvements were identified to ensure records accurately showed what care had been delivered and any changes in people’s needs.

We spoke with nine people over the telephone. One person told us, “I feel safe and well cared for. I have a copy of my care plan and it is up to date and I understand it.” Another person said, “The staff are always, very polite and respectful and they all seem, well trained.” One person said. “Most staff are very, respectful and, polite.” They said they did feel safe and able to complain if not happy with the care. A few people told us that they did not always have regular carers and some carers did not always keep to time particularly in the absence of their regular carers.

We saw information from the provider which showed us that the business was run effectively and they evaluated the effectiveness of the service they provided to monitor quality.