We inspected A & K Home Care Services on 26 January 2017. The inspection visit was announced two days before we visited so we could be sure the manager was available to speak with us. This was the first time the service had been inspected.

A & K Home Care is registered to provide personal care and support to people living in their own homes. There were 29 people using the service at the time of our inspection visit. The service offered support to people dependant on their specific needs, some people received one call a day; other people received four calls each day.

A requirement of the provider’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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. There was a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection visit who was also the provider. We refer to the registered manager as the manager in the body of this report.

Staff received training in safeguarding adults and understood the correct procedure to follow if they had any concerns about people’s safety. All necessary checks had been completed before new staff started work to make sure, as far as possible, they were safe to work with people. The manager and staff identified risks to people who used the service and took action to manage identified risks and keep people safe.

There were enough staff employed at the service to care for people safely and effectively. People were supported by a staff team that knew them well. New staff completed an induction programme when they were employed to ensure they had the skills they needed to support people effectively. Staff received refresher training and had their practice observed to ensure they had the necessary skills to support people. Staff had regular meetings with their manager in which their performance and development was discussed and development plans were agreed.

People’s care was planned with them, and with the support of their relatives and staff at A & K Home Care. This helped to ensure care matched people’s individual needs, abilities and wishes.

The manager and staff understood their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) to ensure people were looked after in a way that did not inappropriately restrict their choices and freedom.

Staff were described as being caring and kind. Staff respected people’s decisions to make their own choices and supported people to maintain their independence.

People were supported with their health needs and had access to a range of healthcare professionals where a need had been identified. There were systems in place to administer medicines safely. People were supported to prepare food that took account of their preferences and nutritional needs.

People who used the service and their relatives, were encouraged to share their views about how the service was run. People knew how to make a complaint if they needed to. Feedback gathered by the provider from people and their relatives was used to drive forward improvements.

Quality assurance procedures were in place to ensure the quality of the service was maintained. These included regular checks of people’s care plans, medicines administration and staff’s practice. However, some audit checks had not been completed recently, due to a vacancy for a deputy manager. The vacancy was being recruited to at the time of our inspection visit.

Accidents and incidents were monitored and investigated, and actions were taken to minimise the risks of a re-occurrence.