This was an announced inspection which took place on 23 and 24 January 2018. The inspection was announced to ensure that the registered manager or another responsible person would be available to assist with the inspection visit. This was the first inspection of the service since it was registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Kare Plus North Cheshire is registered with CQC to provide personal care and support to people living in their own home. At the time of our inspection 23 people were using the service and being supported in meeting their care needs.

Not everyone using Kare Plus North Cheshire received a 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.

At the time of our inspection the service had appointed a new manager who was in the process of becoming 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.

People who used the service and their relatives were positive about the care they received. People we spoke with told us they felt well cared for and that staff knew them well. Comments we received included; “They are very friendly and caring.” and; “They’re caring and do everything I need.”

People told us they were encouraged to remain as independent as possible and had been involved in deciding how their care was being given. At the time of our inspection the manager was in the process of visiting every person using the service to review their care plans and agree new ones.

Care workers told us they felt supported and had noticed an improvement since the manager had been appointed. They told us the staff in the office were very approachable and they felt able to speak to them at any time if they had any concerns and had confidence the concerns would be dealt with appropriately.

The service owner and manager told us that they were committed to providing the best quality service they could. At the time of our inspection the manager was implementing new systems to monitor quality and evaluate where improvements could be made however it was too soon to see how effective the systems would be.

The service owner told us that employing the right staff was very important and they would not take new care packages on unless they had the right care workers in place to do it safely. He told us; “If I can’t see you looking after my parents then I’m not going to take you on.

Care workers underwent a through recruitment and training process and additional training was available which staff we encouraged to complete.

During our inspection we found a discrepancy in one care worker’s recruitment file. Although we were satisfied the recruitment process had been safe, the discrepancy should have been identified by management. We recommended the service review its sign-off process for new care workers.