We carried out an announced inspection of Premier Care Limited – Wigan on 08, 09 and 12 September 2016. The service had last been inspected in December 2013. We found the service to be compliant with all regulations assessed at that time.

Premier Care Limited - Wigan is a large agency that provides home care services to people in the Wigan, Leigh, Atherton, Horwich and Westhoughton areas. The service is managed from an office in Hindley town centre. At the time of the inspection a total of 318 people used the service.

At the time of the inspection there was a registered manger in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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.

All the people we spoke to told us they felt safe. We saw the service had suitable safeguarding policies and procedures in place. Staff had all received training in safeguarding vulnerable adults and were able to demonstrate a good understanding of how to report both safeguarding and whistleblowing concerns.

We saw the service utilised a dependency screening tool, which was reviewed on a monthly basis, to ensure that sufficient staff were employed to meet people’s needs. Some staff reported feeling rushed and not having enough time between calls, but all agreed that the service was still able to meet all calls and that people received the support they required.

We saw that robust recruitment procedures were in place to ensure staff working for the service met the required standards. This involved all staff having a DBS (Disclosure and Baring Service) check, at least two references and work history documented.

Staff reported that they received an appropriate level of training to carry out their role. We saw all staff completed a comprehensive induction training programme, followed by a flexible period of time shadowing experienced care staff, before being allowed to work with people who used the service. We saw the service had systems in place to ensure that staff received regular refresher training to ensure their skills and knowledge remained up to date.

We saw there was both a policy and systems in place to ensure safe medicines management was maintained. People we spoke with confirmed they received appropriate support to ensure medicines were taken when required and as prescribed. We saw the service carried out regular audits to ensure medicines had been administered correctly.

People spoke highly of the standard of care received and the caring nature of the staff. People told us that staff treated them kindly, with dignity and respect whilst also promoting their independence wherever possible.

We looked at 16 care plans, which contained detailed and personalised information about the people who used the service. The care plans also contained individual risk assessments, which helped to ensure people’s safety was maintained. We saw that people or their representatives had been involved in planning the care provided and were asked for their feedback through completion of reviews, spot checks and questionnaires.

We saw that there were a range of systems and procedures in place to monitor the quality of the service. Audits were carried out both internally by the in-house compliance officer and registered manager and externally by the company’s compliance officer and the three company directors, which included a comprehensive monthly audit of the entire service provision. We saw that action points generated through the auditing process had been carried through and documented.

As a part of the inspection, we spoke with 13 people who used the service or a person close to them if they were not able to speak with us. We also sent questionnaires to 61 people and nine of them were returned. We found that people received the care and support that had been planned and agreed. Most people were happy with the service they received. The comments we heard from people included “The carers are friendly yet professional and take pride in their work” and “The carers are not always on time but up to now we are quite happy with the care that we are receiving.”

The records that we checked included appropriate information and helped to ensure that the person was cared for safely. The people we spoke with told us they had no concerns about their safety and we found that there were systems in place to ensure that people were protected from the risks of abuse.

We spoke with four members of staff who told us that they liked working for the agency and they felt well supported in their roles. Staff told us that they received appropriate training and we saw records to confirm that appropriate training had been completed. The staff we spoke with did not express any concerns about the agency.

We found that the provider had effective systems in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service that was provided.