About the service: Trafalgar Community Care is a domiciliary care agency, providing personal care to people in their own homes. The service operates from an office based in Huyton, Knowsley. At the time of this inspection 27 people were using the service.

People’s experience of using this service: People were protected from abuse and the risk of harm. Staff were provided with training in safeguarding and topics of health and safety. Risks to people had been identified and plans were in place to support staff in recognising and managing those risks. Staff understood their responsibilities for keeping people safe and who to contact if they had any concerns about people’s safety. Medication was managed safely by competent staff. People received their prescribed medicines at the right times. Safe recruitment procedures were followed and people received care and support from the right amount of suitably skilled staff. People told us that staff were mostly on time and stayed with them for the full duration of their contracted visit.

Each person had a care plan setting out their needs and how they were to be met in a way they preferred. People told us they received the right care and support which they had agreed to. Staff received the training and support they needed for their job role. Staff understood and respected people’s right to make their own decisions. Staff obtained people’s consent before providing them with any care and support.

People were treated in a respectful way and their privacy, dignity and independence was promoted. Positive relationships had been formed between people who used the service and staff. People and family members made positive comments about the way staff provided care and support.

People's needs were assessed, planned for and regularly reviewed involving people and relevant others such as family members. People told us they received personalised care and support. People were provided with information about how to complain and were confident in doing so should they need to.

Managers promoted a person-centred service and worked hard to maintain high standards of care. They promoted an open and positive culture and worked in partnership with others to improve and promote the service. The quality, safety and effectiveness of the service was monitored through regular checks which took into account people’s views and opinions.

Rating at last inspection: Good (The last report was published on 22 April 2016)

Why we inspected: This was a planned comprehensive inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.

This was an unannounced inspection carried out on 3 and 10 March 2016. We contacted the registered provider 48 hours prior to us visiting the service. Notice of the inspection was given as we needed to be sure that the registered manager or someone who could act on their behalf would be available to support our inspection.

Trafalgar Community Care Limited is a domiciliary care agency which provides support and care for people over the age of 18 years in their own homes. The service is based in Huyton, a suburb of Liverpool. The office is situated on the first floor, over a row of shops, and is easily accessible by public transport. At the time of this inspection the service was supporting 34 people.

A registered manager was 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.

At the previous inspection of the service in October 2013 the service was found to be meeting all of the regulations we assessed.

Systems were in place to keep people safe. These systems included safe medicines procedures and assessing and minimising risks to people in and around their homes.

Policies and procedures were in place to minimise the risk of abuse to people. In addition staff had received training in protecting people from harm. Staff were confident on what action they would take if they thought a person was at risk from harm.

People were protected by safe recruitment practices that ensured appropriate checks were carried out prior to a member of staff starting their role. These procedures also helped ensure that only suitable people were employed by the service.

People were supported by a staff team who they knew well and who received regular training and support to carry out their role.

Plans of how people needed to be cared for and supported were available. The plans contained information specific to individuals’ and how they wanted to be cared for. People told us that they had been included in the development of their care plans.

A complaints procedure was in place and people told us that if they needed to make a compliant they knew who to speak to.

The registered provider had systems in place to monitor the quality of the service provided by Trafalgar Community Care Ltd.

People told us that staff respected their privacy and dignity and were respectful when delivering care and support.

During this inspection the registered manager and director recognised that one to one conversations with staff needed to be recorded on a regular basis. In addition, a formal process for monitoring accidents and incident information needed to be further developed. The registered manager and the director of the service demonstrated a commitment to making these improvements during the inspection process.

We had previously inspected this service on 17 July 2013 and at this time we found that appropriate recruitment and selection procedures and pre-employment checks had not been carried out. We also found that the provider did not regularly assess and monitor the quality of the service provided and did not keep accurate and up to date staff records. During our visit we found that there had been considerable improvements at Trafalgar Community Care Limited in all areas of non-compliance identified at the previous inspection.

We spoke with six people who used the service who were happy with the care and support provided by Trafalgar. One person told us, “I used to have care from another agency but Trafalgar are miles better, everyone here is lovely “ and other said, “They are all lovely people, we have a very good rapport.” We found people were given support to have their say in how they wanted to be cared for and that appropriate arrangements were in place for the management of medicines.

During our inspection we found that appropriate recruitment and selection procedures and pre-employment checks had not been carried out to ensure that staff were of good character and had the necessary skills and experience to work with vulnerable people. We also found that there were insufficient quality assurance systems in place to ensure people received safe and appropriate care, treatment and support.

People who used the service and their relatives told us they were very happy with the service provided and the standard of support and care they received. Some comments made were:

"They are absolutely brilliant".

"They are always spot on time".

"Her eyes light up when she sees them".

"They are superb".