Gemcare South West (Modbury) is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. It currently provides a service to older adults who need support with their personal care. The service supports people within the localities of Modbury and surrounding villages. The service is owned by Gemcare South West Limited, who also have another domiciliary care agency in Plymouth, Devon.

The service was registered with the Care Quality Commission in December 2017, therefore this inspection was the Provider’s first inspection.

The inspection was announced and started on 29 October 2018 and ended on 05 November 2018. The provider was given 48 hours' notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be available in the office. It also allowed us to arrange to visit people receiving a service in their own homes.

Not everyone using Gemcare South West (Modbury) received a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; 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 the inspection there were 21 people receiving personal care.

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 told us they felt safe, with one person commenting, “I feel very safe with my carers”. People were protected from abuse because staff were confident about what action to take should they suspect someone was being abused, mistreated or neglected.

People were supported by staff who had been recruited safely to help ensure they were suitable to work with vulnerable adults. People told us staff always wore their uniform and ID badges to help confirm their identity.

Overall, people told us there were enough staff to meet their needs and staff arrived on time. When staff were running late people told us, that overall, they were contacted to keep them updated. People also told us there was consistency to staffing which meant that people saw the same staff, with one person telling us, “Our three regular carers are really good”. Staff told us the registered manager was very good at making sure their schedule was geographically planned, with adequate travelling time.

People’s risks associated with their health and social care were documented and known by staff.

Staff told us environmental risk assessments were also in place to help keep them safe when working in people’s property.

People were protected by infection control practices, because staff received training in infection control and prevention and wore personal protection equipment (PPE), such as gloves and aprons.

People's medicines were managed safely. Staff received annual medicines training and people had care plans in place which helped guide staff as to what support each person needed.

The provider was pro-active and outward thinking which helped ensure learning took place when things went wrong. For example, a full review of the organisations vison and values was promoted, when a person had provided feedback about their care and support.

People and their relatives told us their needs were met by staff who had received suitable training.

New employees joining the organisation completed an induction to introduce them to the providers policy and procedures and to the ethos and values of the agency, which the provider called the ‘Gemcare Way’.

People’s individual communication needs were known by staff and recorded in their care plans. Staff told us how they adapted their own communication styles to help support peopl