The inspection took place on 31 October 2016. The inspection was announced. We gave 48 hours’ notice of our visit because the location was a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be available to assist with our inspection.

Easby Healthcare is a domiciliary care service registered to provide personal care to people in their own home. At the time of our visit the service was providing support to 25 people.

The service had a registered manager in place. 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 and their relatives told us they felt that care was delivered safely. A specific team of staff was in place to regularly provide support on each contract. This meant that people knew the staff who were supporting them and the staff had the knowledge and training to meet the specific needs of each person. If there were any problems highlighted with staff providing care to an individual, for example due to personality clash, then rotas would be altered to accommodate the necessary changes.

There were systems and processes in place to protect people from the risk of harm. Individual risk assessments were in place and covered key risks specific to the person. These forms were very detailed and updated to reflect any changes. A system of regular reviews was being devised at the time of our visit.

The service had an up to date safeguarding policy and whistle blowing procedure. Staff were aware of the action they should take if they suspected abuse was taking place.

We found that safe recruitment and selection procedures were in place and appropriate checks had been undertaken prior to staff starting work.

Staff were providing support to some people with their medicines. Where this was the case we saw appropriate systems were in place to ensure medicines had been correctly administered, audited and reviewed.

Staff received appropriate training and had the skills and knowledge to provide support to the people they cared for, this included specialist training specific to the needs of the people using this service. New staff underwent induction training which included classroom training and work shadowing a more experienced colleague.

Staff had a working knowledge of the principles of consent and the Mental Capacity Act and understood how this applied to supporting people in their own homes.

Staff had received regular supervision and annual appraisals to monitor their performance. Although these meetings had not been occurring as frequently in recent months due to staff turnover we saw they had begun to take place again and staff told us they felt appropriately supported.

Staff provided support at mealtimes as and when necessary and appropriate records were kept to ensure people enjoyed a suitable, healthy diet and maintained a good level of nutrition and hydration.

Staff were knowledgeable about the people they provided care to, promoted independence and were mindful of respecting people’s privacy and dignity.

People and their relatives we spoke to felt that the staff delivered a very good standard of care.

Staff were happy in their job and had a positive attitude about the care provided by the service.

Care plans contained a high level of detail including people’s life history, individual needs and preferences which meant that they received support tailored to their personal needs. People and their relatives were involved in care planning.

The service had an up to date complaints policy in place and a clear procedure for following these up.

There were systems in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service provided. The management team audited paperwork and conducted regular spot