Generations Care Ltd is a domiciliary care service which provides personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the service provided support to 34 people and employed 20 care staff.

At the last inspection on 3 September 2015 the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

The office visit took place on 9 August 2017 and was announced. We told the provider before the visit we were coming so they could arrange to be there and for staff to be available to talk with us about the service.

A requirement of the provider’s registration is that they have a registered manager. There was a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC 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 did not always receive their care calls at the agreed time. The registered manager was taking action to address this. People and relatives spoke positively about the quality of care and support they received. There was enough suitably trained care workers to allocate all the care calls people required and to meet their needs safely.

Care plans were personalised and provided care workers with the information needed to ensure care and support was provided in the way people preferred to meet their needs. Systems were in place to manage people’s medicines and staff had received training to do this.

People felt safe with their care workers and continued to receive care which protected them from avoidable harm and abuse. Risks to people’s safety were identified and management plans were in place to help reduce these risks. Recruitment checks were completed on potential new staff to ensure they were suitable to support people in their own homes.

The registered manager understood the relevant requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Care workers sought people’s permission before care was provided and encouraged people’s independence where possible.

Care workers received training and support to enable them to provide effective care to people. The management team regularly checked care workers practice to make sure they continued to meet people’s needs whilst working within the provider’s policies and procedures.

People received support from care workers who they said were caring and friendly and who respected their privacy and dignity. People and their relatives were involved in making decisions about their care and had formed good relationships with the care workers who supported them. When needed people were supported to maintain their nutrition and health care needs.

The management team regularly monitored the quality of service provided and invited people and relatives to share their views about the service. The provider used feedback to enable the service to improve.

This inspection took place on 3 September 2015. The inspection was announced. We gave the provider two days’ notice of our inspection. This was to make sure we could meet with the manager of the service on the day of our inspection visit.

Generations Care is a small service registered to provide personal care and support to people living in their own homes. There were 18 people using the service at the time of our inspection.

A requirement of the provider’s registration is that they have a registered manager. 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. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager who was also the provider of the service. We refer to the registered manager as the manager in the body of this report.

People and their relatives told us they felt safe with staff, and staff treated them well. The manager and staff understood how to protect people they supported from abuse, and knew what procedures to follow to report any concerns. There were enough staff at Generations Care to support people safely. The provider had recruitment procedures that made sure staff were of a suitable character to care for people in their own homes.

Medicines were administered safely, and people received their medicines as prescribed.

People were supported to attend appointments with health care professionals when they needed to, and received healthcare that supported them to maintain their wellbeing.

People and their relatives thought staff were kind and responsive to people’s needs, and people’s privacy and dignity was respected.

Management and staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), and supported people in line with these principles. People who lacked capacity to make all of their own decisions did not always have a current mental capacity assessment in place. However, staff knew people well and could explain when people could make their own decisions, and when people needed support to do so.

Activities, interests and hobbies were arranged according to people’s personal preferences, and according to their individual care packages. All of the people and their relatives, had arranged their own care packages, and had agreed with Generations Care how they wanted to be supported. People were able to make everyday decisions themselves, which helped them to maintain their independence.

Staff, people and their relatives felt the manager was approachable. Positive communication was encouraged and identified concerns were acted upon by the manager. Staff were supported by the manager through regular meetings. There was an out of hours’ on call system in operation which ensured management support and advice was always available for staff. Staff felt their training and induction supported them to meet the needs of people they cared for.

People knew how to make a complaint if they needed to. The provider investigated and monitored complaints and informal concerns, and made changes to the service where required improvements were identified.

There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service. This was through feedback from people who used the service, their relative’s, and audits. Recent audits had not identified that care records required updating, and risk assessments were not always in place to protect people from risks to their health. Following our inspection the provider acted promptly to update records and procedures.