Home Instead Senior Care (Ipswich, Woodbridge & Felixstowe) is a large domiciliary care service which provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. When we inspected on 20 and 22 September 2017 there were 112 people using the service. This was an announced inspection. The provider was given up to 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we wanted to be certain the registered manager and key staff would be available on the day of our inspection. We also wanted to give them sufficient time to seek agreements with people that we could visit them in their homes to find out their experience of the service. This service was registered on 14 March 2016. This was their first inspection.

Home Instead Senior Care (Ipswich, Woodbridge & Felixstowe) is part of the Home Instead Senior Care franchise which delivers care to people within the United Kingdom and in several countries across the world. The service provides personal care to people such as assistance with bathing, dressing, eating and medicines. The staff who support people wish to be known as ‘caregivers’ and therefore we have used this term throughout this report.

The provider of Home Instead Senior Care (Ipswich, Woodbridge & Felixstowe) was a company working under the franchise of Home Instead. The service had been compliant at previous inspections but at a different address. The directors of the company were a husband and wife team who were fully involved in the day to day running of the service. They were supported by 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.

Home Instead Senior Care (Ipswich, Woodbridge & Felixstowe) was exceptionally well led. There was visible and effective leadership in an open and transparent culture that resulted in an effectively organised and well run service. The provider and the registered manager were able to demonstrate how their robust quality assurance systems had sustained continual development and improvement at the service. They were clear about their expectations relating to how the service should be provided and led by example. They were supported by a management team and caregivers that were remarkably passionate and fully committed to delivering the highest standard of care to each individual. Morale was extremely high, at all levels within the service

Without exception people and their relatives were extremely complimentary about their experience of using the service. They were full of praise about their caregivers and told us that they were incredibly kind, compassionate and respectful towards them. They described how they trusted and felt safe with the caregivers, who knew them well and encouraged them to be as independent as possible. They shared examples with us of how the caregivers consistently provided them with personalised, tailored care; taking the time to ensure every small detail of the care provided met the person's individual needs and wishes. Everybody we spoke with said that they would highly recommend the service.

All the staff teams were highly motivated, enjoyed their jobs and understood their roles and responsibilities. They were proud of where they worked and told us they felt valued and respected. They shared positive experiences about the way the service was managed, how they were continually supported and encouraged to professionally develop.

Caregivers were highly skilled and competent to meet people’s needs. They demonstrated an enhanced understanding and knowledge of living with dementia. Exceptional person-centred training systems in line with current practice had been established. These took into account the different learning