The inspection took place on 18 and 19 October 2016. The inspection was announced which meant that we gave 48 hours’ notice of our visit. This was because the location was a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be available to assist with our inspection.

Voyage (DCA) (North West) is a domiciliary care service registered to provide personal care to people in their own home. At the time of our visit the service was providing support to three people who each lived in one of the six neighbouring properties owned by the service. The remaining three properties were vacant. The people using the service were adults who required a varying degree of support dependent on their individual needs.

The service had a registered manager in place. 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.

Peoples and their relatives told us they felt that care was delivered safely.

The service had an up to date safeguarding policy and whistle blowing procedure. Staff were aware of the action they should take if they suspected abuse was taking place and felt confident to report any concerns without fear of recrimination.

There were systems and processes in place to protect people from the risk of harm. People’s level of risk was assessed and where an elevated risk was identified a plan was put in place to provide care in a way that mitigated the risk.

Some people were being supported with their medicines and we saw that the service was storing these safely and recording them accurately. We also saw evidence of people being supported to manage their own medicine administration.

We found that safe recruitment and selection procedures were in place and appropriate checks had been undertaken prior to staff starting work.

Staff received appropriate training and had the skills and knowledge to provide support to the people they cared for. This included specialist training specific to the needs of the people using this service. New staff underwent induction training which included shadowing a more experienced colleague.

Staff received regular supervision and annual appraisals to monitor their performance. We saw evidence that these meetings had taken place and staff told us they found this support helpful.

Staff had a working knowledge of the principles of consent and the Mental Capacity Act and understood how this applied to supporting people in their own homes.

Staff worked alongside people to ensure they enjoyed a suitable, healthy diet and maintained a good level of nutrition and hydration. Menus were reviewed each week and produced following discussion with people.

Staff were very knowledgeable about the people they supported. They knew their likes and dislikes, encouraged independence and respected people’s privacy and dignity. We saw positive interactions between staff and people who used the service.

Staff were happy in their work and spoke positively about the care provided by the service. Relatives we spoke with felt that the staff delivered a good standard of care.

Care plans contained very detailed information about people’s individual needs and preferences. This meant that people received support tailored to them. People were involved in care planning and reviews and had regular meetings with staff to ensure care was continuously delivered in a way that best suited their needs.

People were supported to engage in a wide range of activities that were important to them and reviews of what was working well were regularly undertaken. We saw that the activities were specific to the individual’s interests.

The service had an up to date complaints policy in place and a clear, effective procedure for following these up

At the time of our visit there were four people living at the service and we spoke with two of them. They told us that they liked living at the service and they were happy there. We found that people were well supported to live in a way that was suitable for them. People likes and preferences were asked for and were used to plan their care and support.

We found that there were appropriate arrangements in place for obtaining people’s permission before care and support tasks were undertaken. We also found that people who were not able to make decisions for themselves were treated appropriately in line with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act (2005).

We found that there were appropriate arrangements in place for obtaining, storing, administering and disposing of medicines.

There were effective recruitment procedures in place to ensure that suitable staff were employed within the service. There were appropriate numbers of qualified and experienced staff on duty to meet the needs of the people who were being supported by the service at the time of our inspection.

There was an effective quality monitoring system that demonstrated that the provider listened to the comments made by people and relevant actions were taken to improve the service.