The inspection took place on 12 January 2017 and was announced.

ECare Community is a domiciliary care service that provides care and support to people living their own homes. The service operates in the Tendring area of Essex. At the time of our inspection there were approximately 15 people using the service.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post. 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 were safe because staff had the information needed to recognise abuse and keep people safe.

People received safe care that met their assessed needs and the provider had processes in place to manage risk.

There were sufficient staff who had been recruited safely and who had the correct skills to provide care and support in ways that people preferred.

The provider had clear systems in place to manage medicines so that people were supported to take their prescribed medicines safely.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) monitors the operation of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and we found that the provider was following the MCA code of practice. The registered manager had a good understanding of the need to ensure people had the capacity to consent to their care and support.

People were supported effectively with their health needs. The registered manager supported staff to provide care that took people’s wishes into account and staff understood their responsibility to treat people as individuals.

People were treated with kindness and respect by staff who knew them well. Staff respected people’s choices and took their preferences into account when providing care and support.

Staff were supported by the management team to provide care that met people’s needs.

The provider had systems in place to check the quality of the service and take the views of people into account to make improvements to the service. There were systems in place for people to raise concerns and there were opportunities available for people to give their feedback about the service.