We carried out an announced inspection of Right at Home North Cheshire and Leigh on 23, 24 and 25 May 2018. The service was newly registered in April 2017 and this was the first time it had been inspected.

Right at Home North Cheshire and Leigh is a domiciliary care agency which operates as a franchise of Right at Home UK. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community and specialist housing. It provides a service to older adults and people living with dementia. Not everyone using Right at Home North Cheshire and Leigh 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 consider any wider social care provided. At the time of inspection 13 people were receiving a regulated activity.

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. At the time of inspection, the registered manager was on leave. In their absence the service was being run by the deputy manager and nominated individual, who was also the franchisee.

Right at Home North Cheshire and Leigh ensured people were at the heart of their care and support. People received a high standard of person centred care by staff; referred to as caregivers within the service, who were reported to be exceptionally kind, caring and considerate. People and relatives we spoke with, were extremely positive about the relationships they had formed with both caregivers and the service as a whole.

We saw caregivers had gone above and beyond and worked in their own time, or gone out of their way for the benefit of people using the service, to ensure their needs had been met or to provide them with unexpected treats and surprises. The service had also ensured a person’s holidays could continue following the death of their main carer, by ensuring the holiday accommodation was assessed and fitted with matching aids and adaptations, as well as supporting the trip, to aid consistency.

People, their relatives and the caregivers we spoke with, told us the service was extremely well-led and managed. Excellent communication was central to the service’s ethos and this was evidenced in the number of meetings, reviews and checks which had been completed.

People told us they felt safe as a result of the care and support they received. The service had comprehensive safeguarding policies and procedures in place. Caregivers had all received training in safeguarding vulnerable adults, which was regularly refreshed and were able to demonstrate a good understanding of how to report both safeguarding and whistleblowing concerns. Caregivers were confident any concerns raised would be actioned by management or the franchisee.

Caregivers clearly knew the people they supported including their likes, dislikes and interests and the service ensured a small and consistent team worked with each person, with the person involved in this decision-making process.

The service strove to ensure the number of caregiver hours available exceeded the amount of care hours they needed to provide, to ensure people received a punctual and consistent service. Caregivers rosters were planned four weeks in advance and sent to caregivers two weeks in advance, to ensure any issues could be addressed in a timely manner. The service was also mindful of caregivers’ work life balance and the importance of forward planning, to enable them to organise their lives outside of work.

To ensure high quality care and consistency continued to be delivered, the service completed regular monitoring, spot checks an