The inspection took place on 23 May 2017, with the provider being given short notice of the visit to the office in line with our current methodology for inspecting domiciliary care agencies. This was the first comprehensive inspection of the service under the current registration.

Skills Support Limited - Doncaster provides support to people living in their own home who have a learning disability. A small proportion of the support packages they provide include providing personal care to people.

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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

At the time of our inspection there were four people who were receiving personal care from staff. We spoke with three people who used the service and two close relatives. When we asked people about their experiences of using the agency they indicated that they were very happy with the service provided.

There were systems in place to reduce the risk of abuse, and to assess and monitor potential risks to individual people. The provider acted appropriately where people were suspected to be at risk of harm. For instance, we saw potential risks to people had been assessed to ensure the environment was safe for people to live and work in, and to enable people to access the community safely.

People’s needs had been assessed before their care package commenced and where possible they, and the relatives, if appropriate, had been involved in formulating their support plans. Records identified people’s needs and preferences in good detail and had been reviewed and updated as needed.

People were encouraged to manage their own medication if they were able to, and some people were supported by their close family. However, when assistance was required to ensure people received the correct medication, at the right time, appropriate levels of support were provided.

We found recruitment processes were thorough, which helped the employer make safer recruitment decisions when employing new staff. There was sufficient trained and experienced staff employed to ensure people received support from staff who knew them well. People we spoke with confirmed they, or their family member received consistent support from the same care team.

People were enabled to raise any concerns or complaints. The complaints procedure told people how to raise a concern and how it would be addressed. This information was also available in a pictorial [easy to read and understand] format. Relatives we spoke with said they had not made any complaints, but were confident that any concerns they raised would be dealt with swiftly.

The registered manager had a clear oversight of the service, and of the people who were using it. People were encouraged to share their views about the quality of the care provided, to help drive up standards and influence change. Systems had been developed to monitor how the service operated and identify areas for improvement. This also gave the service an opportunity to learn from events and improve the service for people.