SK Care Coventry Ltd is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of this inspection the service supported four people with personal care and employed seven care staff.

This was the first inspection of the service following their registration with us in September 2017.

The office visit took place on 24 May 2018 and was announced. We told the provider before the visit we were coming so they could arrange to be there and arrange for staff to be available to talk with us about the service.

A requirement of the provider’s registration is that they have a registered manager. There was 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. The registered manager was also the owner of the company.

People felt safe using the service and there were enough staff to provide the care and support people required. People received care from staff they knew and who arrived around the time expected. Staff had completed safeguarding training and understood how to keep people safe from avoidable harm and abuse.

Risks to people’s safety were assessed and plans provided guidance for staff about how to reduce known risks. The provider's recruitment procedures made sure staff were safe to work with people who used the service. People received their prescribed medicines from staff who had completed training to do this safely.

People had an assessment completed at the start of their service to make sure staff could meet their care and support needs. Staff received an induction when they started working for the service and completed training that provided them with the skills and knowledge to support people’s needs.

People's right to make their own decisions about their care were supported by managers and staff who understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act. Staff asked for people’s consent before they assisted them with any care and respected decisions people made about their care and support. When needed, arrangements were in place to support people to have enough to eat and drink and remain in good health.

People received care from staff who they considered to be friendly and caring, and who stayed long enough to provide the care people required. Staff we spoke with knew the people they visited well, they promoted people’s privacy and dignity and provided people with care and support which was individual to them.

Care plans were person centred and provided information for staff about people’s individual care needs. Plans were regularly reviewed and updated when people’s needs changed. People knew how to complain, and information about making a complaint was available for people.

Staff were very happy in their work and spoke positively about the management team. They understood their roles and responsibilities and had regular individual meetings and observations of their practice to make sure they carried these out safely. There was an ‘out of hours’ on call system which ensured support and advice was always available for staff when the office was closed.

The management team worked well together and were committed to providing a high quality service to people. There were effective and responsive processes for assessing and monitoring the quality of the service. The registered manager used feedback from people and staff to assist them in making improvements to the service.