Home Instead Senior Care is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service to older adults and younger disabled adults. There were 69 people using the service. Not everyone using this service receives regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also take into account any wider social care provided.

The service had a registered manager in place at the time of our inspection. 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 been trained to administer medicines and people felt they received their medicines when needed. Improvements were needed and the provider’s policy needed to be reviewed to reflect current best practice guidance and we have made a recommendation about developing this.

There were sufficient numbers of staff to meet people’s needs and provide a flexible service. There were safe recruitment practices in place to determine whether staff were suitable to working in the service. The staff received an induction which enabled them to meet people and develop the skills needed to provide their care.

People felt safe and staff had a good understanding of what their responsibilities were in preventing abuse. They were confident that they could raise any matters of concern with the registered manager, or the local authority safeguarding team.

People and staff were provided with support and had the facility to contact the service during evenings and at weekends if they had concerns. The service could continue to run in the event of emergencies arising so that people’s care would continue.

People’s needs were assessed and care and support was planned to maintain their safety, health and well-being. Risks were assessed by staff to protect people. People were involved with the development and review of their support plans to ensure it reflected what they wanted. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. People were able to choose how they wanted to receive their support.

People felt that the staff were caring and compassionate. Each person had a small team of staff who provided their support and had caring relationships with them. People’s privacy and dignity were respected and upheld by the staff who supported them.

People knew how to make a complaint if they needed to. People and staff were confident they could raise any concerns or issues with staff and the registered manager, knowing they would be listened to and acted on.

Quality assurance systems were in place to ensure it was recognised where any improvements could be made. People were asked for their feedback on the quality of the service.