The inspection took place on 26 and 27 June 2017. We gave the provider 48 hours' notice to ensure someone would be in the office to facilitate the inspection. The service had not previously been inspected since first registering with the Commission in June 2016.

Your Care Solutions is a small domiciliary care company whose office is located on the outskirts of Bolton Town Centre which provides space necessary for the running of the company and management of the regulated activity and its employees, including facilitating staff meetings, training and supervision. At the time of our inspection 16 people were using the service, but only 12 people were in receipt of a regulated activity which was personal care.

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.

People we spoke with told us staff were kind and caring and treated them with dignity and respect.

People told us there were always enough staff on duty to ensure they received the support they needed and care staff arrived on time and stayed the full length of the planned visits. They also said the carers wore a uniform and personal protective equipment (PPE) such as gloves at every visit. People felt safe from bullying with the carers and also told us there were enough carers to meet their care needs.

The service had appropriate systems and procedures in place which sought to protect people who used the service from abuse. Staff we spoke with demonstrated a good understanding of local safeguarding procedures and how to raise a concern. The service had a whistleblowing policy in place and this told staff what action to take if they had any concerns about any poor practice within the service.

Recruitment procedures were robust and required checks were undertaken before staff began to work for the service. Disclosure and Barring (DBS) or Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) applications had been obtained for each staff member.

Care files contained a variety of risk assessments including an environmental risk assessment which covered the physical environment in the person's own home. Care files contained a daily observations chart that identified what support staff had been provided at each visit such as any nutritional intake or personal care to be provided.

Suitable arrangements were in place regarding the management of medicines and people told us they had no concerns about their medication.

We saw appropriate fire evacuation processes were in place and fire fighting equipment was available in the head office premises.

Comprehensive risk assessments were in place and support plans devised to mitigate risks. We saw that people or their representatives had been involved in planning the care provided.

Staff told us they were well supported and were inducted in to the service and received on-going training to support them to undertake their role.

The service was working within the legal requirements of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) (MCA).

People who used the service were fully involved with decisions about their care and were given choices in relation to their care delivery and their personal preferences were taken into account.

We received positive feedback about the registered manager who had an infrastructure in place to seek the views of people who used the service and their relatives by undertaking reviews of care delivery.