Princess Homecare is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to older adults living in their own houses in the community. Not everyone using Princess Homecare 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 this inspection, Princess Homecare was supporting three people.

We carried out this inspection on 22 November 2017. The provider was given short notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure someone would be available to assist with the inspection. This was the agency’s first inspection, since its registration in March 2017. This was because changes had been made to the organisation and a new company was developed.

There was a registered manager in post. They were registered with CQC in March 2017. 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 registered manager was available throughout the inspection.

People felt safe and were very happy with the care they received. They liked the caring nature of staff and said the service was reliable, with no concerns about late or missed calls. People were supported by the same staff who knew them well. This ensured consistency and enabled staff to identify any small changes in the person’s health or overall well-being.

People were supported with meal preparation if required and encouraged to lead healthy lifestyles. They were involved in developing and reviewing their care plan, making decisions and consenting to their care. Their rights to areas such as privacy and dignity were promoted. People were aware of how to make a complaint and felt any concern would be properly investigated.

Whilst people’s medicines were safely managed, there was not clear guidance for staff in relation to those medicines to be taken “as required”. Other risks which impacted on people’s safety had been identified and addressed.

People had detailed care plans in place. All had been rewritten using a new format to ensure sufficient detail was available. Other documentation such as management plans had been developed. People’s care was regularly reviewed and improvements had been made to the information documented within daily records.

There were enough staff to support people effectively. More staff would be recruited as the agency expanded. New care packages were to be accepted on a planned basis in order to build the service slowly and safely.

Improvements had been made to the culture of the service and other systems such as auditing, staff training and support. The registered manager was passionate about learning and development and saw the service as constantly evolving. Other processes such as recruitment were well managed.