The inspection was announced and took place on the 21 July. We spoke on the telephone to staff and people who used the service on the 22 and 25 July 2016.

Herts Homecare provides personal care and support to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the service was providing care and support to 22 people. The frequency of visits ranged from one to four visits daily depending on people’s individual needs.

The service has 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People felt safe. Staff had been provided with safeguarding training to enable them to recognise signs and symptoms of abuse and to protect people from avoidable harm. There were risk management plans in place to protect and promote people’s safety. Staffing numbers were suitable to keep people safe. There were safe recruitment practices in place; and these were being followed to ensure suitable staff were employed. People’s medicines were managed safely and in line with best practice guidelines.

Staff received appropriate training to support people with their care needs. People were matched with staff who were aware of their care needs. The service worked in line with the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). People’s consent was sought in line with current legislation and guidance.

People were supported by staff to access food and drink of their choice. If required, staff supported people to access healthcare services.

Staff treated people with kindness and compassion and had established positive and caring relationships with them. People were able to express their views and to be involved in making decisions in relation to their care and support needs. Staff ensured people’s privacy and dignity was promoted.

People received care that was appropriate to meet their assessed needs. Their care plans were updated on a regular basis or when there was a change to their care needs. The service had a complaints procedure. This enabled people to raise a complaint if the need arose.

There was a culture of openness and inclusion at the service and staff felt that the leadership inspired them to deliver a quality service. The service had quality assurance systems in place, which were used to good effect, to continuously improve on the quality of the care provided.

During our previous inspection, the provider was found to be non-compliant with regulation 23. During this inspection we found that the provider was now compliant with this regulation.

We saw evidence that people were asked to consent to the care and support they received. Care plans we reviewed were person centred and provided clear information on how people wanted to be supported. Risk assessments included details on how staff could minimise any potential risk to people.

People and advocates we spoke with were all happy with the service received. One person we spoke with that staff were ‘very committed and helpful’.

Training records reviewed showed that staff had undertaken mandatory training and received regular supervision, however not all staff received an annual appraisal.

The provider had a robust recruitment process in place which ensured that staff were suitable for their roles. The provider also had a complaint’s policy and procedure in place which was made available for people who used the service.

The people we spoke with told us that they were very happy with the care they received. They said that the staff were very well trained and they had the time to get to know the staff as only a small number attended to their care.

We were told that the staff were always cheerful, gentle and kind and that they arrived on time. A person said, “If there is to be a long delay the staff phone me to let me know.” Another person said, “The staff are excellent. They make a difference to my life by being polite at all times. They always check if I am all right before they leave’.

We were told that the carers were well trained, and that the same carers came to care for the person each time. The people told us that they are able to build a relationship with the carers and they said that this was important to them.

Another person said, ‘the staff are cheerful and courteous at all times and they light up my day’.