This inspection took place on 13 November 2018. The inspection was announced. We gave the provider 48 hours' notice of our inspection to ensure we could meet with the provider of the service and the registered manager. This is the service’s first inspection since their registration.

Nikee Healthcare Services is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to people living with dementia, with a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder, mental health condition, physical disability, sensory impairment, older people, people who misuse drugs and alcohol, people with an eating disorder, and younger adults.

Not everyone using Nikee Healthcare Services 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. At the time of our inspection, only two people were in receipt of personal care and support.

Both people had been receiving personal care for less than four months. This meant that although we were able to carry out an inspection we did not find enough information and evidence about parts of the key questions we ask about services, or the experiences of people using the service, to provide a rating for each of the five questions and an overall rating for the service. We were therefore not able to rate the service against the characteristics for inadequate, requires improvement, good and outstanding ratings at this inspection.

There was a registered manager in place. However, the nominated individual who is also the owner of the service told us that the current registered manager was in the process of deregistering with us and that the nominated individual would apply to become the 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.

The provider had systems in place to help ensure people’s safety, and that they were safeguarded against avoidable harm and abuse. The management understood their responsibility in ensuring people’s safety by reducing risks associated with people's health, mobility, care and support needs, and reporting any safeguarding concerns to the local safeguarding authority and to CQC.

People's needs were assessed before they started using the service to ensure they could be met effectively. The provider involved people and their relatives where requested in the needs assessment and the care planning process.

People's care needs were met in accordance with their agreed care plan. Staff were given information that enabled them to provide personalised care.

Suitable and sufficient staff were recruited to meet people’s needs safely. Staff were provided with regular training. The provider had systems in place to provide staff with one to one supervision to enable them to provide effective care.

Staff were trained in equality and diversity. The provider encouraged lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to use the service. Staff told us they treated people equally.

People knew how to raise concerns and make a complaint.

The provider had quality assurance systems in place to assess, monitor and evaluate the quality and safety of the service.