This inspection took place on 16 and 21 November 2017 and was announced. The service was last inspected on 29 September and 1 October 2015. At that time, the service was rated ‘Good’ across each of the five key questions.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for ‘Royal Mencap Society - Sheffield Domiciliary Care Agency’ on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.’

The Sheffield branch of the Royal Mencap Society is situated on the outskirts of Rotherham and provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes and to people living in supported living settings in the Sheffield area. At the time of the inspection 92 people were receiving care and support from the service.

A registered manager was in post. 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 people that we spoke with had no concerns about the safety of the service. The registered provider had delivered training for staff and managers regarding safeguarding people. The staff we spoke with were able to explain the different types of abuse and what action they would take if they were concerned that abuse was taking place.

Relevant risks had been assessed and reviewed regularly. Risk was reviewed and maintained a focus on positive risk taking to support people’s independence.

The recruitment system was robust, meaning that only staff with the right skills and aptitude were employed by the registered provider. Staff performance was managed via a system of staff supervisions and appraisals.

Staff were trained in a range of subjects which were relevant to the needs of the people who used the service. Subjects included; safeguarding adults, moving and handling, administration of medication, Mental Capacity Act 2005 and equality and diversity.

People who used the service spoke positively about the way in which staff provided support, spoke with them and the impact the service had on their life.

We had the opportunity to observe staff providing support during the inspection. We saw that staff demonstrated care, kindness and warmth in their interactions with people. It was clear from their conversations and manner that the staff knew each person well and valued them as individuals.

People were supported by staff who understood their health needs and ensured they had sufficient to eat and drink to maintain their wellbeing. People were supported to shop for food and prepare meals in accordance with their specific needs and individual preferences.

People were treated with dignity and respect and their privacy was protected. People were supported by a service which was person centred and put their interests first.

People were able to influence the way their care and support was delivered and they could rely on this being provided as they wished. Staff described the services as promoting choice, independence and control for the individual. This choice included; staff, activities and times of support.

People’s human right to make decisions for themselves was respected and they provided consent to their care when needed. Where people were unable to do so the registered provider followed the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to make the least restrictive decisions in people’s best interest.

The organisation had a clear set of visions and values which were communicated in brochures and other promotional materials. These visions and values were linked to organisational strategy and used as one of the criteria on which quality was assessed. Staff were able to explain the visions and values of the services and applied them in their practice.

There were systems and resources available to the management team to monitor

The inspection took place on 29 September and 1 October 2015 and was announced. The service was registered with the CQC in December 2014 so this was the first inspection of the service under the new registration.

The Sheffield branch of the Royal Mencap Society is situated on the outskirts of Rotherham. It provides personal care to people living in the community. Personal care is provided to people living in the Sheffield and Bradford areas. Support packages are flexible and based on the assessed needs of each individual.

The service had a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection. 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.

We spoke with staff and found they were knowledgeable about protecting people from abuse. They told us they received training in this area as part of their induction and on a regular basis.

We saw the service had a safe recruitment policy in place and records we saw indicated this was followed correctly. We saw four staff files and found they contained pre-employment checks.

The support plans we looked at included risk assessments which identified any risk associated with people’s care. This ensured people’s support was delivered in a safe way. We saw assessments had been devised to help minimise and monitor the risk.

We saw mandatory training included topics such as safeguarding, working with people, emergency first aid, moving and handling and food hygiene. We spoke with the registered manager who told us the company were introducing the new ‘Care Certificate’ for new employees undertaking induction.

Staff had an awareness of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and had received training in this area. Staff were clear that when people had the mental capacity to make their own decisions, this would be respected.

We spoke with people who used the service and found that they were involved in menu planning and food preparation where possible. People who lived in supported living with others decided what they would like to eat at the beginning of a week and devised a menu.

People were supported to attend medical appointments and had access to health professionals when required.

People were supported to work towards their own personal goals. The service operated a key worker system whose responsibility it was to sit with the person they were supporting and discuss what was working well and what goals they would like to achieve.

Mencap have policies and procedures in place to protect the rights and independence of people they support. People were supported to choose what they wanted to take part in. One person was involved in voluntary conservation work and this was an important part of their life.

During our inspection we visited people who used the service and found staff offered privacy and dignity to people. The registered manager told us that staff undergo an annual observation to ensure they are proving personal care with dignity and encouraging the person to maintain as much independence as possible.

Support plans contained information about how to support and care for each person. They were based on individual assessed needs and clearly involved the person and their likes and dislikes.

The provider had a procedure in place to manage complaints. We spoke with the registered manager who told us they had not received any complaints in the last 12 months. The registered manager described the system to us by saying they would complete a log and sent it to the company’s internal complaints system who would acknowledge the complaint.

Staff we spoke with felt supported by the management team and were able to speak with managers if they had a concern. One care worker said, “There is always a manager on the end of the phone.”

We saw the management team completed a series of audits to ensure the service provided was of good quality. The service had an audit tool which was held electronically. This was known as the ‘compliance confirmation tool’ (CCT). This was designed to monitor aspects of supporting people, staffing, systems and environment.