We carried out an inspection of CRG Homecare – Burnley on 29 and 30 November 2017. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice to ensure that the registered manager would be available when we visited.

CRG Homecare – Burnley is a domiciliary care service. It provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. It provides a service to children, people with a physical disability, learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder, people who misuse drugs or alcohol, people with an eating disorder, people with poor mental health, older people and people living with dementia. At the time of our inspection, the agency was also providing a reablement service, commissioned by the local authority. Reablement is a short term service designed to help people improve their independence while living at home, for example following a period in hospital or a change in their circumstances. At the time of our inspection the service was providing personal care and support to 89 adults and a further 163 adults were being supported through the reablement service. No children were being supported. This was our first inspection of the service.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager at the service who had been registered with the Commission since December 2016. 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.

During this inspection we found that the provider was meeting all regulations. We have made a recommendation about staffing arrangements at the service.

The people we spoke with told us staff usually arrived on time and stayed for the full duration of the visit. However, a number of complaints and safeguarding alerts had been raised regarding people receiving reablement support. These related to missed visits, only one staff member attending when people needed two staff to meet their needs and people being dissatisfied with the standard of care they had received. We saw evidence that these complaints and safeguarding alerts had been investigated and the provider was taking action to address these issues.

During our inspection people told us they felt safe when staff supported them. Staff had a good understanding of how to safeguard adults at risk and were aware of the appropriate action to take if abusive practice was taking place.

Records showed that staff had been recruited safely and had received an appropriate induction. They received regular supervision and their practice was observed to ensure they were providing safe care. Staff told us they felt well supported by the registered manager.

We found that people’s medicines were being managed safely and people told us they received their medicines when they should. Staff members’ competence to administer medicines safely was assessed regularly.

People were supported with their healthcare needs and were referred to community healthcare professionals when appropriate.

People were happy with the care and support they received from the service. They told us their care needs were discussed with them and they were involved in decisions about their care.

People liked the staff who supported them and told us they were caring. They told us staff respected their right to privacy and dignity when providing care and encouraged them to be as independent as possible.

We found that people were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. Staff understood the main principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). They sought people’s consent before providing support and supported people to make everyday decisions about their care. Where people lacked the capacity to make decisions about