Sharon Brinkman Care Services Ltd provides personal care to people living in their own homes in the Spalding area of South Lincolnshire. The service was first registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in May 2015 and had been operating for about two years at the time of our inspection.

We inspected the service on 25 April 2017. The inspection was announced. At the time of our inspection 15 people were receiving a personal care service.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with CQC to manage the service. Like registered providers (the ‘provider’) 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.

CQC is required by law to monitor how a provider applies the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and to report on what we find. Staff demonstrated their understanding of how to support people who lacked the capacity to make some decisions for themselves. Staff also knew how to recognise and report any concerns to keep people safe from harm.

People told us that they were highly satisfied with every aspect of the service they received. In particular, the provider’s careful approach to managing staffing resources which meant they were supported by the same staff on a consistent basis. Staff had established warm, friendly relationships with people and went out of their way to help them in any way they could. Staff worked together in a supportive way and participated in a varied programme of training appropriate to their needs. They enjoyed working for the provider and felt listened to by the registered manager and other senior staff.

People were involved in agreeing the type and amount of care they received and their needs and wishes were understood and followed by staff. Staff treated people with dignity and respect and encouraged them to maintain their independence. Staff had the knowledge and skills required to meet people’s individual needs effectively and supported them to prepare food and drink of their choice.

We identified a small number of areas in which improvement was needed to ensure people received safe, effective care. These related to record-keeping and other administrative processes rather than the delivery of hands-on care. Improvement was required in the recording of medicines administration, the completion of people’s individual risk assessments and in some aspects of staff recruitment procedures.

The registered manager displayed an open and responsive management style and was quick to acknowledge the areas for improvement we picked up in our inspection. She took personal responsibility for ensuring the required changes were addressed as a matter of priority.