Town and Country Care provides personal care to people living in their own home, primarily in the Boston area of Lincolnshire.

We inspected the service on 13 and 14 June 2017. The inspection was announced. At the time of our inspection approximately 100 people were receiving a personal care service.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to manage the service. Like registered providers (the ‘provider’) 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.

We last inspected the service in February 2015 when we rated it as Good. In February 2017 we re-registered the service to reflect a minor change in the ownership structure of the registered provider. This administrative change had no impact on the day-to-day operation of the service. Although, therefore, this was our first inspection of the re-registered service, we were pleased to find that service quality had been maintained since our visit in 2015 and the rating remains as Good.

Everyone we spoke with told us that they were highly satisfied with every aspect of the service they received. In particular, the provider’s careful approach to managing staffing resources which meant staff were rarely late for the start of their care calls. Staff had established warm, friendly relationships with people and their families and went out of their way to help them in any way they could. Staff worked together in a supportive way and participated in a varied programme of training appropriate to their needs. They were proud to work for the provider and felt listened to by the registered manager and other senior personnel.

People were involved in agreeing the type and amount of care they received and their needs and wishes were understood and followed by staff. Staff treated people with dignity and respect and encouraged them to maintain their independence. Staff had the knowledge and skills required to meet people’s individual needs effectively and supported them to prepare food and drink of their choice.

People’s medicines were managed safely and staff worked closely with local healthcare services to support people to access any specialist support they needed. The provider assessed any potential risks to people’s safety and welfare and put preventive measures in place where required. Staff knew how to recognise and report any concerns to keep people safe from harm.

CQC is required by law to monitor how a provider applies the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and to report on what we find. Staff understood the principles of the MCA and how to support people who lacked the capacity to make some decisions for themselves.

The provider was committed to the continuous improvement of the service and maintained a range of systems to monitor service quality. The provider sought people’s opinions through regular customer surveys and people were confident any complaints would be handled properly.