About the service: Kare Plus Mansfield is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care people living in their own homes and flats in the community. It provides a service to older people, people with physical disabilities, learning disability, mental health and people who are living with dementia. Not everyone using this service received 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 there were 20 people using the service.

What life is like for people using this service:

People were kept safe by staff who understood how to safeguard people from abuse and the actions they needed to take to protect people from the risk of harm. There were sufficient numbers of staff to support people and staff were recruited safely. There were appropriate infection control practices in place and people were supported to take their medicines safely.

People were supported by staff who had completed the relevant training to give them the skills and knowledge they needed to meet people needs. People were supported to have sufficient amounts to eat and drink and protected against the risk of poor nutrition. Staff supported people to maintain their health and well-being. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Staff were kind, caring and treated people with dignity. People were encouraged to remain independent where possible and were supported to be involved in the planning and provision of their care.

People and those important to them were at the centre of the assessment and care planning process. People were supported to express their wishes and preferences regarding their care and staff were provided with information which enabled them to provide personalised care. People and relatives were confident to raise concerns and complaints and these were listened to, resolved and used to drive improvements in the service.

The provider had systems in place to monitor the quality of the service to ensure people received good care. People, relatives and staff were given the opportunity to feedback on their experience of the service and contribute to the improvement and development of the service.

Rating as last inspection: We inspected this service in September 2017 and rated the service as Requires Improvement.

Full details of this report can be found at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we inspected: This was a scheduled inspection.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor the quality of the service through the information we received until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any information of concern is received, we may inspect sooner.

Kare Plus Mansfield provides a care and support service to people who live in their own homes in and around Mansfield. This was the first inspection of this service since they registered with us in September 2016. Nine people were receiving a service. The organisation provides other support that is not regulated by us which includes personal shopping, domestic services and support in the community.

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.

The provider had systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of care although these were not always effective to drive improvements within the service. Where people may lack the capacity to make decisions, assessments had not always been completed to ensure decisions were made in their best interests. Risks to people had been identified and staff understood how to support people to reduce risk and protect them from potential harm. However, the support plans did not always include this information. Where people’s care had been changed, the provider had not ensured the records were changed to reflect people’s current support.

The provider recruited staff who they felt already had the training and skills to provide the care for people. This was assessed although further training should be considered to ensure their skills were up to date.

People felt safe when being supported by staff and staff knew how to protect people if they suspected they were at risk of abuse or harm. Staff understood how to recognise potential harm and knew how to report concerns. People were positive about the way staff treated them and said staff were kind and compassionate. People felt comfortable raising any issues or concerns and there were arrangements in place to deal with people's complaints.

People felt the staff knew them well and were treated in kind caring way. Each person had a small team of staff who provided all their care and they had been introduced to them and trusted them to provide their care. Staff knew people well and respected the things that were important to them.

People were encouraged to be independent and their privacy and dignity was upheld in their homes. When people needed support with mealtimes or access to health professionals it was provided for them. People received their medicines as prescribed and staff felt confident to report any concerns they had if people were unwell.