This inspection of Brancaster Home Care Limited took place on 18 July and 25 July 2018 and was announced. We visited the agency office on the first day to speak with the registered manager, nominated individual and staff. We also visited people in their homes. On the second day we contacted people who used the agency by telephone and email to ask their experiences of the service.

Brancaster Home care is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. Services provided for adults include personal care and bathing, a night service, supervision of medication, meal preparation, cleaning and laundry services, shopping, companionship and support to go out. The offices are situated in Kendal and are open usual office hours with an on-call service outside of office hours.

Not everyone using the service receives 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. At the time of this inspection 34 people were using the agency and 18 were receiving the regulated activity.

At our last inspection in August 2015 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.

There was an experienced registered manager at the service who was present throughout the inspection. 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 told us they felt safe whilst receiving support from staff at the agency and felt it was “reliable and “attentive”. People had been involved in planning their care and were able to tell staff on a daily basis how they wanted their care delivered.

People told us that staff were caring and supported them in the way they wanted. People we spoke with who used the agency told us they were supported by regular staff who had got to know them well. Staff had received the training and support they needed to be able to carry out their roles.

Staff had received training on the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and they supported people to have maximum choice and control of their lives and support them in the least restrictive way possible. People were asked for their consent before care was provided and the decisions they made were respected. People told us they had been fully involved in the development and reviews of their care.

Staff told us they felt supported in their role and could seek advice and help from the management team at any time of the day. There were systems in places for staff to feedback any concerns or changes in care needs to the registered manager.

People received the right level of support they needed to take their medicines safely. Staff had received training in safe medicine administration and were able to give medicines to people when needed.

People were supported to eat meals of their choice and staff understood the importance of people having a nutritional diet.

People and their relatives were aware of how to raise concerns or complaints. They said they had been asked for their opinions and views during reviews and in surveys and if they were happy with the services they received.

There were processes in place to monitor quality and understand the experiences of people who used the agency. People and their relatives were happy with how the service was managed. People told us they would

The people we spoke to told us that they had a copy of their care plan in their home. They told us that people from the agency came to check that their care and support needs were being met appropriately. People told us that their care workers had visited at the times expected unless there had been an “Emergency with someone else or bad weather”.

People who used the service also confirmed that they "always" knew who was coming to visit them in advance and there was good continuity with regular staff who knew them well.

Everyone we spoke with who used the service told us they felt safe receiving care from the agency staff were "Very polite and friendly" and "Always cheerful" and that it was “A really caring agency”. All the people we spoke with gave positive feedback about how their privacy and dignity were promoted and how staff asked them what they wanted. We were told that care staff were, “Very discreet”.

People we spoke with told us they knew who they could speak to if they had a concern or complaint and said they would be confident raising concerns with the manager of the agency. People told us that the manager visited them to review care and supervise staff in their homes.

The provider had effective recruitment procedures in place and had carried out relevant checks on the staff employed. This helped to make sure that staff were suitable for working with the people living there.

This inspection of Brancaster Home Care Limited took place on 4 and 10 August 2015. We last inspected this service in November 2013. At that inspection we found the agency was meeting all the regulations assessed.

Brancaster Home Care is a Domiciliary Care Agency that is registered to provide the activity of personal care for adults. Services provided include personal care and bathing, a night service of both sleep in and visits, supervision of medication, meal preparation, cleaning and laundry services, shopping, companionship and support to go out. The offices are situated in Kendal and are open usual office hours with an on call service out of office hours. At the time of the inspection there were 86 people using the service.

The agency has 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.

People who used the agency told us this was a reliable and well run agency. They knew how to raise concerns and complaints but all we spoke with said they had not needed to complain formally. They told us they felt confident talking to the registered manager about anything that bothered them. They had been asked for their opinions and views and if they were happy with the services they received. They told us the agency was “well run”.

We saw that people were supported to maintain their independence and control over their way of life as much as possible. Risk assessments were in place to allow people to keep their independence in their homes in ways that mattered to them. People told us the care staff supporting them were “very, very kind” and “excellent” and “outstanding”.

The agency followed the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 Code of practice and staff had training on this and a range of training relevant to their roles. This helped to protect the rights of people who were not able to make important decisions themselves. The care staff we spoke with were aware of their responsibility to protect people from harm or abuse. They knew the action to take if they were concerned about the safety or welfare of an individual. They told us they would be confident reporting any concerns to their manager.

The staff we spoke to knew about the people they were supporting and the choices they had made about their care and daily lives and respected their wishes. People using the agency felt the staff had a good understanding of their needs and preferences. The agency had worked well with health care professionals and external agencies such as social services and district nursing services to provide appropriate care to meet people’s physical and emotional needs.

The agency maintained good records and used quality monitoring and assurance processes to see if the agency was meeting people’s needs and expectations. Recruitment records showed that there were systems in place for the recruitment of care staff and for their induction and on going training and development.

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