Personal and Community Support Services Personal Assistant Services South is a domiciliary care agency which provides care and support to people living in their own home.

At the time of this inspection care was provided to 13 people with a range of physical, mental and learning disability needs.

This comprehensive inspection took place on 25 July 2016 and was announced. It was carried out by one inspector.

The provider is required to have a registered manager as one of their conditions of registration. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission [CQC] to manage the agency. 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. There was a registered manager in post at the time of our visit.

People were kept safe and staff were knowledgeable about reporting any incident of harm. People were looked after by enough staff to support them with their individual needs. Pre-employment checks were completed on staff before they were assessed to be suitable to look after people who used the service. People were supported to take their medicines as prescribed.

People were supported to eat and drink sufficient amounts of food and drink. They were also supported to access health care services and their individual health and nutritional needs were met.

The CQC is required by law to monitor the Mental Capacity Act 2005 [MCA 2005] and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards [DoLS] and to report on what we find. The provider was aware of what they were required to do should any person lack mental capacity. People’s mental capacity was assessed by the local authority and care would be provided in people’s best interests. The service provides care to people with learning disabilities and people with dementia. However, the provider had not yet developed their own assessment of people’s mental capacity and it was therefore unclear how people’s day-to-day care was being provided in their best interest. In addition, the provider had no policy in place in relation to the application of the MCA. Following our visit, the provider told us that, as a result of our inspection, that they had made arrangements to ensure people's rights were protected in accordance with the MCA. Staff were trained and knowledgeable about the application of the MCA.

People were looked after by staff who were trained and supported to do their job.

People were treated by kind staff who they liked. They and their relatives were given opportunities to be involved in the review of people’s individual care plans.

People were supported to increase their integration into the community; they were helped to take part in recreational and work-related activities that were important to them. Care was provided based on people’s individual needs. There was a process in place so that people’s concerns and complaints were listened to and these were acted upon.

The registered manager was supported by a team of management staff and care staff. Staff were supported and managed to look after people in a safe way. Staff, people and their relatives were able to make suggestions and actions were taken as a result. Quality monitoring procedures were in place and action was taken where improvements were identified.

We spoke with people who used the service and relatives who told us that staff consulted them and respected and acted on the decisions they made about the care and support they had agreed to.

Our observations showed us that staff members were responsive to the needs of people and that they were given the support and attention they needed. We saw that people had a positive experience of being included in conversations, decision making and activities.

We found that support plans of care stored in the home of people using the service contained the information staff members needed to ensure that the health and safety of people was promoted and protected.

People spoken with told us that they were provided with the care and support they needed and that the members of staff were excellent, friendly and very kind.

Staff members were well led, trained and supported to provide an appropriate standard of care and support through effective management, supervision and staff team meetings.

Quality audits were being carried out to ensure the views of people were gathered on the quality of the service provided, that people were safe and that policies and procedures were being followed.