Swift House is a domiciliary care agency which provides personal care support to people in their own homes. At the time of our visit the agency supported around 150 people with personal care.

We visited the offices of Swift House on 1 August 2016. We told the provider we were coming before the visit so they could arrange for staff to be available to talk with us about the service. There was a management team based in the office that organised the scheduling of calls, staff training and recruitment.

The service has a registered manager but at the time of our visit they were on a period of extended leave. 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. At the time of our visit the assistant manager/finance manager who was also the registered ‘nominated individual’ for Swift House was managing the home. They are referred to in this report as the ‘registered person.’

People felt safe using the service and care staff understood their responsibilities to protect people from abuse and keep people safe. There were procedures to manage identified risks with people's care although there were some risk assessments that had not been developed, which the registered person agreed to address. People told us they received their medicines as required.

Recruitment checks were carried out for new staff to make sure they were suitable to work with people who used the service. There were enough staff to deliver the care and support people required and most people were positive about the staff. They said staff had the right skills to provide the care and support they required and they stayed long enough to complete the care they required.

The provider and registered person understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA). Care staff were to complete training to develop an increased knowledge and understanding of the MCA. Care staff knew to gain people's consent before they provided personal care.

Staff received an induction when they started working for the service and completed training to support them in meeting people's needs safely and effectively.

Care plans contained information for staff to help them provide the personalised care people required. People knew how to complain and said that the management team based in the office were helpful in resolving concerns. Care staff said they could raise any concerns or issues with the management team knowing they would be listened to and acted on.

We found that whilst staff were responsive to people’s needs, some people experienced calls outside of their agreed times and received support from an inconsistent group of care staff.

There were processes to monitor the quality of the service provided and understand the experiences of people who used the service. However, we could not always see that information collected resulted in lessons being learned and improvements to the service.

Audit processes did not consistently identify that records were not always up-to-date and accurate. This included the Statement of Purpose and complaints records. We also found that sometimes actions were not identified and addressed. This included reporting safeguarding information to us as required.

Staff felt supported by the provider and the management team and most were positive about their experiences of working for Swift House.