About Me Care and Support is registered to provide personal care and this is for people who live at home. The people receiving the care live with hearing and seeing difficulties. At the time of our inspection there were seven people using the agency.

At the last inspection in February 2016 we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

This comprehensive inspection took place between the 6 and 8 August 2018 and was announced.

A registered manager was not in post at the time of the inspection. The previous registered manager had left on 12 July 2018. At the time of our inspection a new manager was in the process of applying to become a registered manager. In the meantime, day to day activities at the agency were managed by a service manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to manage the agency. 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 agency is run.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. This service also provides care and support to people living in one supported living setting, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support. It provides a service to older people, people with sensory impairment and younger adults.

Not everyone using About Me Care and Support receives a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.

People continued to receive a safe service. Staff with the right skills continued to be recruited in a safe way. Sufficient staff were in post to keep people safe. Medicines were administered and managed safely. Risk were identified and managed to keep people as safe as practicable. Accidents and incidents were monitored and where necessary actions taken to prevent them from reoccurring.

People continued to receive an effective service. Staff continued to receive updates to their training and other training to ensure they had the right skills for their job. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People were supported to eat and drink well and they were enabled to access health care services. The service worked together with other organisations and this helped ensure peoples care was coordinated.

People continued to receive a caring service. People received care from staff who treated them with compassion, consideration and kindness. Staff showed people the respect they deserved. Advocacy was provided to people when this was required. People’s privacy and dignity was respected and promoted. People were not discriminated against no matter what their needs were. People’s care plans had been developed with as much of the person’s involvement as practicable.

People continued to receive a responsive service. People’s individual care needs were met by staff who understood people’s communication skills. Concerns were acted upon before they became a complaint. Technology was used to enhance people’s lives and independence. Systems wer

About Me Care and Support is registered to provide personal care and this is for people who live at home. The people receiving the care live with hearing and seeing difficulties. At the time of our inspection there were 10 people using the agency.

This comprehensive inspection took place on 19 January 2016 and was announced.

A registered manager was in post at the time of the inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to manage the agency. 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 agency is run.

People were kept safe and staff were knowledgeable about reporting any incident of harm. People were looked after by enough staff to support them with their individual needs. Pre-employment checks were completed on staff before they were assessed to be suitable to look after people who used the service. People were supported to take their medicines as prescribed.

People were supported to eat and drink sufficient amounts of food and drink. They were also supported to access health care services and their individual health needs were met.

The CQC is required by law to monitor the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA 2005) and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and to report on what we find. None of the people lacked capacity to make decisions about their care. However, the provider was aware of what they were required to do should any person lack mental capacity. This included following their policy and procedure in making sure that people were not unlawfully deprived of their liberty.

People were looked after by staff who were trained and supported to do their job.

People were treated by kind and respectful staff who they liked. They and their relatives were given opportunities to be involved in the review of people’s individual care plans.

People were supported to take part in their hobbies and interests, which included art, eating out, shopping and going for a walk. Care was provided based on people’s individual needs. There was a process in place so that people’s concerns and complaints were listened to and these would be acted on.

The registered manager was supported by team managers, office based staff and care staff. Staff were supported and managed to look after people in a safe way. Staff were able to make suggestions and actions were taken as a result. Quality monitoring procedures were in place and action had been taken where improvements were identified.

An adult social care inspector carried out this this inspection. The focus of the inspection was to answer five key questions; is the service safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led?

As part of this inspection we spoke with four people who used the service, the manager and three members of care staff. We also reviewed records relating to the management of the service which included three care plans, daily records, policies and procedures, staff records and quality assurance monitoring records.

Below is a summary of what we found. The summary describes what people using the service and the staff told us, what we observed and the records we looked at.

Is the service safe?

People told us that they were very satisfied with how their individual support and care needs had been safely met. They also indicated to us that they felt safe because they liked the members of staff and trusted them to provide them with safe and appropriate support and care. One of the people who used the service told us that the standard and quality of their support and care was, “Fantastic.”

Health and safety risk assessments had been carried out and measures were in place to minimise these, to keep people safe.

CQC monitors the operation of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards which applies to care services. While no applications have needed to be submitted, relevant staff have been trained to understand when an application should be made, and how to submit one.

People were safe because they were supported to manage their prescribed medication. There were some minor deficiencies in recording of medication, but we have assessed the risk to be minimal. Because of this low level of risk, our expectation is that the provider will take remedial action to improve the quality of medication administration records.

There was a sufficient number of trained staff employed to provide people with consistent, safe and appropriate support and care.

Is the service effective?

People’s choices and decisions about their support and care were respected and valued. People told us that they were actively consulted about their support, care and their individual preferences, and these were respected.

Members of staff were able to effectively meet people’s complex communication needs.

The standard of support and care had enabled people to independently live at home.

Is the service caring?

People who we spoke with said that they liked the members of staff and how they were being looked after. They were looked after by kind, caring and respectful members of staff.

Staff supported people so that they were protected from the mental ill-health risks of social isolation. People were also supported to maintain and promote their individual levels of independence.

Is the service responsive?

People’s needs, choices and personal preferences had been assessed and acted on. Members of staff demonstrated to us how they respected people’s choices and decisions about their support and care.

People’s individual social and health care needs were responded to. People were enabled to stay independently living at home because their support and care needs were met.

Is the service well-led?

There were monitoring and reviewing systems in place in relation to the management of staff. This was to ensure that people were provided with safe and appropriate care.

People who used the service were provided with opportunities to make suggestions and comments to improve the quality of their support and care. Surveys were carried out for people to complete and they were asked for their views during reviews of their support and care.

Members of staff told us that they had the training and support to safely do their job, which they said they enjoyed.

Members of staff were enabled to make suggestions and take actions to improve the standard and quality of people’s support and care.

An application to register the manager has been submitted for the Care Quality Commission to consider.

People were provided with information in an appropriate format to enable them to make an informed decision before they provided a valid consent to their care and support needs.

Our review of people's care plans demonstrated to us that people's support and care needs were assessed prior to the person starting to use the service. People were provided with care that met their individual needs.

Since our last inspection in September 2012 the provider had made improvements to staff safeguarding of vulnerable adults (SOVA) training and also to the SOVA contact information provided to people and staff.

About Me Care and Support only employed staff after Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), previous employment and identity checks had been satisfactorily completed. People could be assured that they would only be cared for by staff who were fit and suitable to provide personal care.

Records we reviewed showed us that the provider maintained an accurate record of complaints. Of the few complaints that there had been in the past 12 months all had been responded to the satisfaction of the complainant. People we spoke with told us that they had never had to complain.

Since our inspection in September 2012 the provider had made improvements to the records for staff training. Records we viewed evidenced to us that staff training records were kept up-to-date with refresher training planned where this was required.

We spoke with three people who used the service at the supported housing scheme. One person had a dual sensory loss and a member of staff was present to assist with communication.

Overall people were very satisfied with the care and support they received. They felt that staff knew how to support them to meet their needs in a way that respected their rights and choices, most of the time. However one person said that carers sometimes forgot to shut the bathroom door when she used the toilet.

There had been occasional resident’s meetings but these were not held regularly. One person had raised concerns about fire alarm procedures that they felt were unresolved. However, they had received feedback from the results of the annual survey but did not know how accessible the information was for other people who used the service.