We carried out this inspection on the 14 and 15 June 2017. The inspection was announced and was the first rated inspection for the service. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of our inspection to make sure people were in the office and arrangements could be made to visit people in their own homes with their consent.

Big Blue Door is registered to provide personal care for adults and children who have learning disabilities, in their own homes. On the day of our inspection there were two people using the service. We were not able to verbally communicate with these people during our inspection.

At the time of our inspection the service had a registered manager 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.

Staff had received training in safeguarding and knew their responsibilities to report any concerns. The service also had a whistleblowing policy in place.

Risks to people who used the service had been identified but we found risk assessments had not been put in place. We discussed this with the registered manager who told us they would action this as a matter of urgency. The day after our inspection the registered manager sent us the required risk assessments. These identified risks and how staff were to mitigate them to keep the person safe.

Recruitment systems and processes in place were robust. We saw references, identity checks and Disclosure and Barring Service checks were completed before staff were employed.

Medicines were managed safely in the service. Only staff members trained to do so were able to administer medicines to people. We have made a recommendation about the medicines policy in place in the service.

We saw accidents and incidents were recorded and retained in both an accident book and on an accident and incident sheet which the provider had developed, a copy of which was retained in the person’s home in their care records.

Staff told us they had access to personal protective equipment (PPE) such as gloves and aprons and confirmed they had received training in infection control. We have made a recommendation about the infection control policy in place.

All new staff members were expected to complete and induction when they commenced employment. Those who did not have a qualification in health and social care were expected to complete this during their employment. We saw staff completed further training in topics such as safeguarding, medication, autism, food hygiene, equality and diversity, challenging behaviour, disability awareness, communication and epilepsy awareness.

Staff members told us and records confirmed that staff members received supervisions and appraisals on a regular basis. All staff members told us they were able to discuss any training requirements they had.

We observed some carers undertaking tasks in people’s homes. We observed they were kind, caring and respectful in their interactions with people and respected people’s privacy and dignity when undertaking personal care tasks.

People’s independence was promoted on a daily basis. Staff encouraged people to undertake daily living skills such as washing their clothes, cleaning the house and cooking their meals.

Care plans in place for people contained detailed information to direct staff on how to meet people’s needs.

Staff meetings were held on a regular basis. Records we looked at confirmed staff were able to bring up topics or suggestions in these meeting.

There were quality assurance processes in place which included regular audits and checks on the operation of the service.

We have made a recommendation about the statement of purpose currently in place within the service.