This announced comprehensive inspection took place on 20 August 2018. The service registered with the CQC in September 2017 and this is the first time it has been inspected.

Buckfastleigh is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to older adults. Not everyone using Buckfastleigh received 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 38 people were receiving personal care from the service. People who used the service lived in Buckfastleigh, Totnes, Newton Abbot and the surrounding areas.

The service had a registered manager. 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.’

The registered manager had started working for the service in April 2018 and was still in the process of making a number of improvements to the monitoring and delivery of the service. In the months prior to our inspection there had been a number of staff changes and the service were in the process of recruiting new staff. A recent external audit had been undertaken and this had raised a number of concerns and areas requiring improvement. At the time of our inspection the new registered manager had implemented a number of changes to improve the service and were still working on a detailed action plan to rectify identified issues.

People and staff spoke highly of the new registered manager. Staff praised the changes that had been made since the new registered manager had started. They made comments which included; “Since (name of registered manager) has been appointed Manager, things have greatly improved.”

We found that not all staff had received training in the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and their knowledge and understanding in this area had not been checked. However, we found staff worked hard to ensure people were able to make decisions and people’s freedoms were promoted. We made a recommendation for the provider to review their induction package and their mandatory training to include thorough training on the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and a clear method of measuring staff understanding in this area.

People were supported by a caring staff team. People and relatives praised the support staff, the office staff and the management at Buckfastleigh. Comments included, “They are lovely”, “Our regular carer is so very friendly” and “They uplift me when they come. I look forward to them coming.”

People and staff benefited from a leadership team at Buckfastleigh which valued staff contributions, skills and achievements. This was demonstrated by staff ideas being implemented, staff being awarded certificates for their good work and an employee of the month programme. This ensured best practice and good work was recognised.

People were protected from risks relating to their health, mobility, medicines, nutrition and behaviours. People’s individual risks had been assessed and staff had taken action to seek guidance where required and minimise identified risks. Where accidents and incidents had taken place, these had been reviewed and action had been taken to reduce the risk of reoccurrence. Staff supported people to take their medicines safely where required and as prescribed by their doctor.

People told us staff were almost always on time and had time to meet their needs in the way they wanted. The registered manager worked hard to ensure people had consistent staff teams. This helped people develop trusting and comfortable relationships with staff and increase