This inspection of Everycare Wirral took place on 16 and 23 February 2018, the first day of the inspection was unannounced. This is the first inspection of this location.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to older adults living in their own homes in the community.. Not everyone using Everycare Wirral receives the regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; which is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection Everycare Wirral was providing personal care for 31 people.

A registered manager was 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’s family members told us that the service was safe and reliable. One person’s relative told us that the reliability of the service together with the relationships built up with care staff made them, “feel safe in their hands.” Another person’s relative told us, “Everything is always fine, there are no problems, I trust the carers. They make us feel comfortable in our home.”

There was a system in place to make sure that people received the visits they needed. People told us that carers were very rarely late and if they were they made a phone call. If needed emergency cover was available from the senior member of staff who was on-call. Staff logged in and out of visits and these logs were recorded. We looked at one staff members’ schedule and saw that the correct time was allocated to each call including travel time to ensure people’s needs were safely met in a timely manner.

The registered manager told us and people confirmed that the service aims to have the same staff visit people, so staff knew people’s needs and have an opportunity to build up a relationship with them. People told us that new staff are always introduced to them before they start.

New staff members spent a period shadowing the work of an experienced staff member; this was often for a couple of days. Staff told us that they found this shadow period helpful for them to learn of people’s preferences, pick up important details and get to know people. One staff member told us, “When I went out by myself I felt confident.”

The quality of support provided to people was monitored by unannounced spot checks completed by the registered manager and feedback being sought from people both informally and by a feedback questionnaire. People’s medication administration records and records of the care provided were checked by the registered manager.

The service had recruitment procedures in place to help ensure that new staff were suitable to work with vulnerable adults. However on occasions this process had not been followed robustly. Also staff knowledge of safeguarding procedures and the safeguarding policy of the service needed improving.

People’s care files contained important information to help keep people safe and also their likes, dislikes and preferences. We saw appropriate risk assessments had been completed and contained guidance for staff on how to reduce risks to people. We also saw that people’s consent to their care was sought in line with the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. People were treated with respect and their confidential personal data was protected.

If appropriate people were supported with their health needs and appropriate information was contained within people’s care files.

People and their relatives told us that they had confidence in the skills and abilities of the care staff who visited their homes. Staff told us that they were well supported in their roles. One staff me