This was an announced inspection that took place on 29 March 2017. This was the first inspection after the service registered with the Care Quality Commission in September 2015.

The service had a registered manager in place, who was also the registered 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.

Caring Hands Solutions is registered to provide personal care to people in their own homes.

At the time of the inspection the service was providing personal care support for four people. The registered manager completed 75% of the support visits themselves and employed one regular member of staff. The service had three bank staff available to cover any shifts as required.

All the people we spoke with, and a relative, said they felt safe supported by staff from Caring Hands Solutions. The registered manager had completed mandatory training from a recognised training provider. The registered manager had used Skills For Care and Care Certificate workbooks to train their staff member.

Spot checks were completed by the registered manager every six months to observe staff practice.

The registered manager telephoned the staff member weekly and also regularly telephoned people who used the service to check that they were happy with the service. Staff told us they felt well supported by the registered manager. Staff were introduced to the people they supported by the registered manager before they started to support them. This meant the staff had the skills, knowledge and support to provide effective care.

Caring Hands Solutions did not currently support people with their medicines. The registered manager had completed medicines training.

The service was working within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) (MCA). People currently being supported by the service had the capacity to consent to their care and support.

People and their families, where appropriate, were involved in agreeing the support to be provided by the service.

Care plans and risk assessments were in place for each person who used the service. These gave guidance to staff on how to support people and manage the identified risks. However one person was supported to access the local community. The registered manager had discussed any potential risks with the person and their family but had not formalised this into a written risk assessment. The registered manager said they would write a risk assessment to cover this. The care plans were reviewed every six months.

People’s preferences for their support, for example having a male or female staff member or a staff member who could speak Urdu or Punjabi meant people’s cultural needs were met.

A system of recruitment was in place which included all relevant checks with the Disclosure and Barring Service and obtaining two written references. However not all staff had a full employment history and an explanation of any gaps in employment recorded.

People who used the service and a relative were complimentary about the staff at Caring Hands Solutions. Staff had a clear understanding of people’s needs. People said staff always asked what tasks the person wanted them to do. Staff were flexible with the time of their support visits to accommodate people’s health appointments. Staff supported people to maintain and where appropriate, increase their independence. Staff supported people with their nutritional needs where applicable.

There was a complaints procedure in place. People told us they had not made a complaint and would talk to the registered manager directly if they needed to. A system was in place to record and review any incidents or accidents. We saw there had not been any incidents or accidents at the servic