About the service:

Ace Health and Care Providers Ltd is a domiciliary care agency that is registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection, six people were receiving a service from the agency.

People’s experience of using this service:

People using the service told us they felt safe and staff treated them with respect. The provider had safeguarding procedures and staff understood their responsibilities to safeguard people from abuse. Risks related to people's lives had been assessed, however, some information in the risk assessments lacked detail and was contradictory to the information in people’s care plans. The registered manager assured these issues would be fully addressed. Following the inspection, the registered manager confirmed this work had begun and sent us a copy of an updated risk assessment. People were protected from the risks associated with the spread of infection.

There were sufficient numbers of staff deployed to meet people's needs. The service followed appropriate recruitment procedures to ensure prospective staff were suitable to work with vulnerable adults. People received their medicines safely and were supported to eat and drink in accordance with their care plan.

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. The registered manager assured us the principles of the Mental Capacity Act would be further embedded in the assessment and care planning processes. People’s needs were assessed prior to them using the service. The provider had arrangements for new staff to receive induction training.

There was ongoing training for all staff. Staff were supported with regular supervisions and were given the opportunity to attend regular meetings to ensure they could deliver care effectively.

Staff treated people with kindness, dignity and respect and spent time getting to know them and their specific needs and wishes. Care plans reflected people's likes and dislikes and personal preferences. People and/or their relatives had discussed their care needs with staff and were involved in the care planning process.

People were aware of how they could raise a complaint or concern if they needed to and had access to a complaints procedure.

The provider used systems to monitor the quality of the service, which included seeking and responding to feedback from people and their relatives in relation to the standard of care.

Rating at last inspection:

This was the first inspection of the service.

Why we inspected:

This inspection was part of our scheduled plan of visiting services to check the safety and quality of care people received.

Follow–up:

We will continue to monitor the service to ensure that people receive safe and high- quality care and re-inspect in line with the rating for the service. We may inspect sooner if we receive information of concern.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk