This inspection took place on 21 September 2017 and was announced. We gave the registered manager 48 hours’ notice to give them time to become available for the inspection. The service was previously registered with us at a different location. At our previous inspection on 30 July and 4 August 2015 we rated the service ‘good’ overall and found the service was meeting the fundamental standards. This was the first inspection of this service since they registered with CQC at their new address on 15 July 2016.

Right at Home Croydon provides personal care and support to people in their own homes who have a variety of needs, including older people, people with a learning disability and people with physical disabilities and mental health illnesses. There were 50 people using the service at the time of our inspection and most people were privately funded.

The service had a 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 service provided personalised care to people to a very high standard. The provider emphasised companionship as part of every visit and only accepted visits of an hour minimum to enable staff to spend quality time with people. Care workers were highly motivated to provide quality care and enjoyed caring for people. Care workers knew people very well and treated people with dignity and respect. People were supported to be as independent as they wanted to be and the provider worked to increase people’s strength and mobility where possible.

The service was exceptionally responsive to people’s needs. The provider matched people exceptionally well with the care workers who supported them which helped build strong relationships. Matches were based on personality, shared interests, hobbies and backgrounds. People were each supported by a small team of care workers which provided a high level of consistency of care. People were supported to integrate into their local community and to do activities they were interested in to remain active.

The provider was very selective in their recruitment processes and only selected staff who they identified, through various methods, as kind and caring.

People were safeguarded from abuse and neglect. People felt safe and care workers received training in how to recognise if people were being abused or neglected and how to report this.

Risks relating to people’s care were managed well by the provider who had systems to identify and assess risks and put suitable management plans in place for care workers to follow to keep people safe. People were involved in the risk assessment and care planning process and care was delivered to them in accordance with their wishes.

People’s medicines were managed safely by the provider. Records showed people received medicines as prescribed and the provider had suitable systems to identify and investigate any omissions in recording.

People were supported by staff who were suitable to work with them due to checks the provider carried out as part of the recruitment practices. There were sufficient numbers of staff deployed to support people. Care workers received effective support to carry out their roles through induction, training, supervision and appraisal.

People were cared for in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and care workers received training to increase their understanding of their responsibilities in relation to the Act. Care workers obtained people’s consent before they carried out tasks such as personal care and the provider had systems to assess people’s mental capacity regarding significant decisions relating to their care.

People received the necessary support in relation to health conditions, accessing healthcare services