We inspected Wesleycare on 9 February 2018. The inspection visit was announced. We gave the provider 48 hours' notice that we would be inspecting the service so we could be sure the registered manager and staff were available to speak with us.

Wesleycare is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. Care staff call at people’s homes to provide personal care and support at set times agreed with them. At the time of our inspection there were nine people who received personal care through Wesleycare, all of whom were located in the Worcestershire area.

There was a new registered manager in post who had received confirmation of their registration on 2 February 2018. A requirement of the service’s registration is that they have 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.

This was the first inspection of the service following its registration with CQC. The service had only been operating for a few weeks even though it had been registered with us since October 2015, and therefore the new manager was developing systems and processes to ensure people received a quality service.

People were positive about the care they received and were complimentary of the care staff that supported them. People said they felt safe when supported by care staff. Care staff understood how to protect people from the risk of abuse and there were processes in place to minimise risks to people’s safety, which included information about people’s individual risks in their care plans.

Checks were carried out prior to care staff starting work to ensure their suitability to work with people who used the service. New care staff completed induction training and shadowed more experienced care staff to help develop their skills and knowledge before supporting people independently. This ensured they were able to meet people’s needs effectively.

All care staff had been provided with a staff handbook containing the policies of Wesleycare to support them to provide safe and effective care to people. Care staff received specialist training on how to manage medicines so they could safely support people to take them.

People received a service based on their personal needs and care staff usually arrived to carry out their care and support within the timeframes agreed.

People told us care staff maintained their privacy and dignity. People’s nutritional needs were met by the service where appropriate.

The registered manager and care staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) and how to put these into practice. Care staff told us they gained people’s consent before giving care.

The manager/provider had processes to monitor the quality of the service and to understand the experiences of people who used the service. This included regular communication with people, staff, and record checks. People knew how to raise concerns if needed. However, no one had made an official complaint at the service.

However, monitoring and quality systems required improvement to show the findings of checks performed at the service, so that lessons could be learnt to improve the service. Record keeping required improvement to ensure there was a full record of people’s care available in the provider’s office.