About the service: Phemacare Ltd. is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. Some of the people supported were living with a dementia type illness or had physical disabilities. At the time of this inspection the service was supporting 11 people with personal care tasks.

People’s experience of using this service: People received a good, personalised service. Staff knew how to safeguard people from abuse. Most people and relatives told us they were happy with the support they received.

Incidents were analysed, lessons were learnt and embedded into practice. Risk assessments were in place and acted upon appropriately to reduce any identified risks. People were supported with their medicines by staff assessed as competent in this area. Staff had the training and support they needed to carry out their roles well.

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.

The manager and provider carried out checks and audits and sought feedback to make sure that the service was delivering a safe and good service. A system for recording and responding to complaints was in place. The management team worked with other agencies and professionals to meet people’s needs.

Rating at last inspection: Good overall with well-led rated as requires improvement (report published April 2016). The overall rating at this inspection remains the same and well-led has improved to good.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection to check that the service remained Good.

Follow up: We will monitor all intelligence received about the service to inform the assessment of the risk profile of the service and to ensure the next planned inspection is scheduled accordingly.

This inspection took place on 23 and 24 February 2016 and was announced.

Phemacare Ltd provides personal care for people in their own home. There were 24 people receiving services for which CQC registration was required at the time we inspected.

A registered manager was not in post at the time of our inspection, but the provider was taking steps to address this. 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. The provider had not consistently told us about all of the events they are required to do by law. The provider told us they would take action to put this right.

People were protected from the risk of potential abuse and told us they felt safe because of the way staff cared for them. Plans to manage people’s individual risks were in place, and staff took action to care for people in ways which promoted their safety. There were enough staff employed to care for people and chat to them so they did not become isolated. Staff reminded people to take their medicines so they would remain well.

Staff had the skills to care for people and knew people’s histories and the way they preferred their care to be given. People’s consent was appropriately obtained by staff when caring for them. Where people could not directly communicate their choices staff worked with them so their choices would be identified. Staff respected people’s rights to make their own decisions and encouraged people to make choices about what they had to eat and drink. People were supported by staff to maintain their health.

People had developed good relationships with staff who were caring. Staff listened to people and took action to make sure people were receiving their daily care in the ways they wanted. Staff supported people to maintain their dignity and understood people’s need for privacy.

People or their representatives were involved in deciding what plans for care were put in place and the reviews of their care.

The provider and manager checked the quality of the care provided and introduced changes to develop people’s care further. People and were encouraged to give feedback on the quality of the service.