About the service: Care 4 U Hampshire Ltd is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

People’s experience of using this service: People consistently told us how they were treated with exceptional kindness and respect. We received overwhelmingly positive feedback about how staff were supportive and went the extra mile to get care just right for people.

A person told us, “The carers are always kind and very pleasant, they treat me as a person”. A relative told us, “My mother……requires a high degree of care and I genuinely cannot want for a more compassionate or professional service”. Another relative said, “Mother has really taken to (the provider) and the other carers who are always friendly, helpful and respectful”. A health and social care professional told us they considered the service worked particularly well at: “Giving one to one support, continuity of care, respecting the individual and liaising well with family members”.

The provider’s values of care, compassion, communication, competence, courage and commitment were embedded in the culture and governance of the service.

People received highly personalised and flexible care and support, tailored to their specific needs and preferences. Each person was seen as an individual, with their own social and cultural diversity, values and beliefs.

The provider was passionate about continually striving to improve people’s care and support and had built strong relationships with relevant professionals and within the community to promote learning and meeting people’s needs.

There were systems and processes in place to protect people from harm. Staff understood how to identify, report and manage any concerns related to people’s safety and welfare.

There were sufficient numbers of experienced staff to meet people’s needs. Safe recruitment practices were followed and appropriate checks had been undertaken, which made sure only suitable staff were employed to provide care for people.

People’s needs were assessed before a service commenced and care was delivered in line with standards, guidance and the law.

Staff were highly motivated and well supported to provide care to people through the training and supervision they received. There was an induction, training and development programme, which supported staff to gain relevant knowledge and skills.

More information is in the full report.

Rating at last inspection: Good (report published 28 July 2016)

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor this service and plan to inspect in line with our inspection schedule for those services rated Outstanding.

Care 4 U Hampshire Ltd is registered to provide personal care to people in their own homes. The aim of the service is to promote independence and a better quality of life, to enable people to remain in their own homes.

Ten people were receiving personal care at the time of this inspection. The service also provides people with support for domestic tasks, shopping and social activities.

The service has a registered manager, who is also the owner and service provider. 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.

We received overwhelmingly positive feedback about the service, the provider and the staff. People and their relatives felt the provider and staff went out of their way to support them in a kind, caring manner and went above and beyond what was expected to meet their needs.

The provider and staff were skilled at supporting people at the end of their life and worked hard to ensure both the person and their relatives were looked after well at a difficult time.

The provider and staff understood the importance of involving people and their relatives in their care and providing care that was personalised to their individual needs.

Staff understood how to identify, report and manage any concerns related to people’s safety and welfare. There were systems and processes in place to protect people from harm, including how medicines were managed.

Safe recruitment practices were followed and appropriate checks had been undertaken, which made sure only suitable staff were employed to provide care for people. There were sufficient numbers of experienced staff to meet people’s needs.

Staff were supported to provide appropriate care to people because they were trained and supervised. There was an induction, training and development programme, which supported staff to gain relevant knowledge and skills.

Staff assisted people to obtain advice and support from other health professionals to maintain and improve their health or when their needs changed.

The service was responsive to people’s needs and staff listened to what they said. Systems were in place to help ensure any concerns or complaints were responded to appropriately.

There was an open and inclusive culture within the service, which encouraged people’s involvement and feedback . The provider demonstrated an open management style and provided leadership to the staff team.

At the time of our inspection, the agency was providing personal care to 30 people in their own homes. We spoke with nine people who used the service and two of their relatives as part of our inspection.

People spoke highly about the care they received from the agency. They told us that they received good, reliable care that met their needs and respected their wishes. For example, one person told us, "They note what needs doing and they do it. They are very reliable", while another person commented, "They are very good. I have no complaints at all."

The agency had procedures in place to ensure that staff employed by the service were suitable to provide care for people. Staff were also given training and support to be able to carry out their work effectively. People who used the service told us that they felt the provider picked staff well and they found their care workers to be kind, caring and able to meet their needs.

The agency had systems in place to monitor the quality of care that people received which included surveys, care reviews and checks on staff. This helped ensure that people's needs were met, risks to their health were managed and people were satisfied with the support they received. People described how the provider had made changes to their care as a result of their comments. People had confidence that the registered manager would listen, and respond to, any concerns they had.