Allestree Health and Home Care Services provides personal care and treatment for adults living in their own homes. On the day of the inspection the registered manager informed us that there were a total of 50 people receiving care from the service.

A registered manager was in place. 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.

Risk assessments were not consistently in place to protect people from risks to their health and welfare. Staff recruitment checks were not always in place to protect people from receiving personal care from unsuitable staff.

People and relatives we spoke with told us they thought the service ensured that people received safe personal care. Staff had been trained in safeguarding (protecting people from abuse) and staff understood their responsibilities in this area.

We saw that medicines were, in the main, supplied safely and on time, to protect people's health needs.

Staff had received training to ensure they had skills and knowledge to meet people's needs, though this had not covered some relevant care issues.

Staff understood their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) to allow, as much as possible, people to have effective choices about how they lived their lives.

People and relatives we spoke with all told us that staff were friendly, kind, positive and caring. They told us they had been involved in making decisions about how and what personal care was needed to meet their needs.

Care plans were individual to the people using the service to ensure that their needs were met though this did not include all relevant information such as all of people's preferences, likes and dislikes.

People and relatives told us they would tell staff or management if they had any concerns, they were confident these would be properly followed up. They were satisfied with how the service was run. Staff felt they were supported in their work by the senior management of the service.

Management carried out audits in order to check that the service was meeting people's needs and to ensure people were provided with a quality service.

This inspection took place on the 16 December 2015 and was announced.

Allestree Health and Home Care Services provide personal care for people living in their own homes. The registered manager informed us that there were 31 people receiving a personal care service from the agency.

A registered manager was 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 using the service and relatives we spoke with said they thought the agency ensured that people received safe personal care. Staff were trained in safeguarding (protecting people from abuse) and understood their responsibilities in this area.

Some people’s risk assessments were in need of improvement to help ensure staff understood how to support them safely.

People using the service and relatives we spoke with told us they thought medicines were given safely and on time.

Staff were not fully safety recruited to help ensure they were appropriate to work with people who used the service.

Staff needed more training to ensure they had the skills and knowledge to be able to fully meet people's needs.

Staff understood their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) to allow people to have an effective choice about how they lived their lives.

People told us they had plenty to eat and drink and everyone told us they thought the food prepared by staff was satisfactory.

People's health care needs had been met by timely referral to health care professionals when necessary.

People and relatives we spoke with all told us they thought staff were friendly and caring and they got on very well with them.

People, or their relatives, were involved in making decisions about people’s care and support.

Care plans were not fully individual to the people using the service and did not fully cover their social care needs.

People and relatives told us they would tell staff or management if they had any concerns and were confident they would be followed up.

People receiving the service, their relatives and staff thought that the agency was well run.

Management carried out audits and checks to ensure the agency was running properly, although auditing did not include all issues needed to provide a quality service.