The inspection took place on 10 August 2017. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to make sure someone would be available.

This was the first inspection of the service since it was registered at their current address in September 2015. The service was previously registered at a different location. There were no outstanding actions when the provider relocated to the current address.

London Borough of Hounslow Home Care is known by people who use, work with and work for the service as the Community Recovery Service Plus (CRS plus). The service is registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes. The registered service is part of a larger team providing care and support to people who are recovering from a hospital stay or injury for up to six weeks when they return home. They offer 461 hours of support a week and can support between approximately 25 – 35 people at any one time. The service is designed to provide people with support to regain independence and skills. The service provides personal care with an aim of reducing the level of care and support as people become more independent. The staff providing support are known as rehab assistants. They, the assessors, coordinators and managers work closely with a team of healthcare professionals, therapists and social workers to provide a package of care.

The service is part of an integrated team working directly with the local health authority, although the registered provider is the London Borough of Hounslow.

There was a registered manager in post. 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 using the service and their relatives were happy with the care they received. They told us the service helped them to achieve independence and met their needs. They found the staff kind, caring and polite. People were involved in planning their own care and support and consented to this. People felt safe and knew how to raise concerns if they had any.

The staff were well supported. They were happy working for the service and felt that they were valued and did a valuable job. They enjoyed seeing the progress people made. The staff told us the registered manager listened to them and offered advice and support. The staff had regular training, supervision and the information they needed to carry out their roles and responsibilities.

The staff worked closely with other healthcare and community professionals. These professionals felt that the service was well managed and met people's needs.

There were appropriate systems for safeguarding people from abuse, for assessing risk and for safely managing their medicines. The procedures for recruiting staff included checks on their suitability.

There were systems for assessing, monitoring and improving the quality of the service, which included audits, asking stakeholders for feedback and regular reviews. Records were appropriately maintained, accurate and up to date.