We inspected Synergy Homecare - Bradford Homecare on 20 and 24 July 2017 and the visit was announced. This meant we gave the provider a short amount of notice to make sure the registered manager would be available.

Synergy Homecare - Bradford is a large domiciliary care agency which provides care services to people in their own homes. On the day of our visit 164 people were receiving personal care from the service.

There was a registered manager 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.

Staff had a good understanding of how to safeguard adults from abuse, having completed training in the subject. They were able to describe various types of abuse, and knew how to report any concerns they had about people’s safety.

There was a robust recruitment process to ensure that all staff employed were suitable to care for vulnerable people. Staff received a thorough induction, shadowed existing staff and undertook additional qualifications such as 'The Care Certificate, which gave them the knowledge and skills to care for service users. Staff received supervision, and the quality of their care was monitored through 'spot checks' by senior staff.

People spoke positively about the caring nature of the staff, and described them as being friendly, kind and caring. Staff understood about the need to respect privacy and dignity and could describe ways they would do this. The service was acting within the legal framework of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) and people who used the service said carers asked their consent before undertaking personal care and offered them choices.

People told us they received care and support from a regular group of carers who were familiar with their needs. Staff were organised into small teams to improve consistency.

People had their needs assessed before they started using the service and the information gathered was used to develop a personalised care plan which enabled staff to care for them in a way appropriate to their individual needs. Support plans were reviewed annually or more frequently if needed.

Staff were positive about the company, the registered manager and senior staff. They felt they were supportive and approachable and that they could easily raise any concerns with them.

There was a complaints procedure available which enabled people to raise any concerns or complaints about the care or support they received.

There was a quality assurance monitoring system in place that was designed to continually monitor and identify any shortfalls in service provision.