We inspected Simply Carers Limited on 23 July 2018. This was an announced inspection. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because the registered manager was often out of the office on business or providing care. We needed to be sure that they, or a delegated representative, would be in.

Simply Carers Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care and domestic support to people living in their own homes in the community. As a provider of bespoke care packages to people there were periods of inactivity. At the time of inspection they had one person who had recently been using them. Not everyone using Simply Carers Limited receives a 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.

Simply Carers Limited was registered with the Care Quality Commission in October 2017. This comprehensive inspection was the first inspection carried out on 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.

Care documentation showed that people had had a positive experience in receiving care and support. Care records were personalised to people’s individual needs and responsive to any changes that people wished to make.

At the time of inspection the registered manager was also the main care worker. However, the service was recruiting and we saw that policies and procedures were in place to ensure the service recruited staff who would provide safe care.

Staff members had been safely recruited and had received an induction to the service. There were systems in place to safeguard people from abuse and to ensure that staff were appropriately trained.

Staff had access to personal protective equipment (PPE) for the prevention and control of infection.

Staff confirmed they had received training, including training in the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) and they understood the importance of gaining people’s consent before assisting them.

The service completed assessments of people’s needs and these were used to create the care plan for each person. The service kept people’s needs under review and made changes as required.

The service promoted a culture that was person centred, open and inclusive and had systems in place to monitor the quality of the service and the experience of people who used it.