This inspection took place on 30 November and 2 December 2016 and was announced.

Stockwellcare Support Services is a domiciliary care agency delivering care and support to people in the London Boroughs of Lambeth and Wandsworth. At the time of the inspection the service was providing support to 34 people.

The service had a registered manager at the time of the 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.

Staff were trained to safeguard people and knew what actions to take to keep people safe. People’s risk of avoidable harm were reduced because they were assessed and plans were made to mitigate them. Staff were suitable and appropriately vetted. People were supported to receive their medicines as prescribed and staff practices minimised the risk of infection.

People were supported by knowledgeable and skilled staff who were supervised and appraised by the manager. People gave their consent to the care they received and were supported people in line with legislation. People were supported to maintain their health and to access healthcare services. People were supported to eat and drink enough.

Staff delivering care and support were caring and kind. People’s privacy and confidentiality were protected and they were treated respectfully by staff.

People received care that was personalised to their needs. Assessments identified people’s needs and care plans guided staff as to how people’s individual needs should be met. People understood the provider’s complaints procedure. The provider gathered and acted upon feedback from people and their relatives.

The service had a registered manager who staff felt was approachable. There were robust quality auditing processes in place and the provider liaised with healthcare services, local authorities and other provider agencies to improve its delivery of care and support.

Stockwellcare Support Services provides personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection 18 people were using the service.

We undertook an announced inspection to the service on 22 July 2015.

The service had a registered manager. 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.

People were provided with the support they needed with their personal care. Information was provided by the referring local authority and assessments were undertaken by the service’s operations manager to identify people’s support needs. This included identifying what people were able to do independently and when people required support from staff. People were involved in decisions about their care and staff respected people’s choices. Staff were aware of their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and ensured people consented to the care provided. If people did not have the capacity to consent to their care information was provided from the referring local authority about what decisions had been made in the person’s ‘best interests’.

Risks to people’s health and welfare were identified and managed appropriately. However, we found that some care records did not contain sufficient information about how certain risks were managed. Staff liaised with their managers if they were concerned about a person’s health. Discussions were held with health and social care professionals involved in the person’s care to ensure they received the support they required.

There were adequate staffing levels to provide a safe service. People told us they liked their care worker. However, people told us that staff were often late to appointments and we saw that adequate travelling times were not scheduled between appointments. Staff received on-going training and supervision. People received support from staff that had the knowledge and skills to meet their needs.

The management team undertook checks on the quality of service provision. We saw that no concerns had been raised about the quality of care provided and people were satisfied with the support they received. However, the system to track the frequency of checks on staff performance needed strengthening to ensure internal procedures were met. The registered manager was not aware of all requirements of their registration with the Care Quality Commission.