This inspection took place on 31 July 2018 and was unannounced. Abbey Care is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to older adults, younger disabled adults, people who were living with dementia or mental health conditions.

The service has a registered manager. They were present throughout the inspection visit. 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 since the service registered with CQC on 31 August 2017, the provider had been registered with CQC previously at a different location. On the day of the inspection there were 130 people receiving home care from Abbey Care.

Not all records were complete and accurate. The provider was in the process of updating their systems and this meant that some records were not complete. We identified this as an area of practice that needed to improve and become embedded within practice.

People told us that they were happy with the standard of care provided. The people and relatives that we spoke with were consistently positive in their praise of the staff. People’s comments included, “They are friendly and professional,” and “They are a great bunch, really good at their work, which they clearly like.”

Risks to people were identified and managed to support them to remain safe. Staff understood their responsibilities regarding safeguarding people from harm and abuse. There were enough staff to ensure that people received the visits they needed within the planned timeframe.

Staff received the training and support they needed to be effective in their roles. People told us they had confidence in the skills of the staff. Comments included, “The staff are really good, they are very skilled.” Staff understood their responsibilities regarding obtaining consent from people. People were supported to maintain their health with access to health care services and support with nutrition and hydration needs.

People said that staff were caring and kind. Staff had developed positive relationships with people and spoke about them with warmth and affection. People were supported to be involved in making decisions about their care and support. They told us that staff respected their privacy and protected their dignity. One person said, “They are very careful to make sure I’m not embarrassed about personal care. “

Care plans were holistic and provided detailed guidance for staff in how to provide care in a personalised way. People’s needs and preferences were considered. Staff noticed changes and care plans were adjusted to ensure people’s needs were met. The provider had a system for managing complaints and people were confident that their concerns would be listened to. People were supported with end of life care and staff worked effectively with other agencies and family members.

There was strong leadership and staff spoke highly of the registered manager. People described a well run service. The provider had introduces an electronic care planning system which provided them with facilities to monitor the quality of the service. They used this and other quality assurance systems to ensure that standards of care were maintained. One person told us, “ I have a team of carers and they are all marvellous, I couldn’t ask for more.”