GMS Carers is a domiciliary care service registered to provide personal care to people with learning disabilities. The service supports four people living together in a house which they rent under a shared tenancy agreement.

There was a registered manager at the service. 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.

At the last inspection, the service was rated Good. At this inspection, we found the evidence continued to support the rating of Good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

Why the service is rated Good.

People supported by GMS Carers told us they felt safe and staff provided them with the support they needed.

Staff were aware of their responsibilities in keeping people safe.

Policies and procedures for the safe management of medicines were in place.

There were robust recruitment procedures in operation to promote people’s safety.

Staff were provided with relevant training and supervision so they had the skills they needed to undertake their role.

People receiving support said staff were nice and kind.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People’s care plans contained relevant person-centred detail to inform staff. The support plans had been reviewed to ensure they were up to date.

People said they could talk to the staff and registered manager if they had any worries.

There were quality assurance and audit processes in place to make sure the service was running well.

The service had a full range of policies and procedures available to staff.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

This inspection took place on 20 June 2016. We gave the service 48 hours notice of the inspection because it is a small service and the people who use the service are often out and we needed to be sure they would be in.

GMS Carers is a domiciliary care service registered to provide personal care to people with learning disabilities. It supports four people with learning disabilities living together in a house which they rent under a tenancy agreement.

There was a manager at the service who was registered with CQC. 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.

There were systems in place to manage risk and keep people safe. Safeguarding matters and medicines were managed in a way that helped to ensure people’s safety.

People’s care plans showed they had been involved in making decisions about their lifestyle. Staff had contributed to care plans by making sure decisions made were in peoples best interests.

People were cared for in a person centred way. Person centred means that care is tailored to meet the needs and aspirations of each individual.

There were sufficient numbers of staff to provide good quality care and support to individuals. People were given one to one support every week which gave them an opportunity to take part in activities and learn new skills which they said were important to them.

Staff had completed training which helped them deliver a good standard of care and support to people.

Staff undertook a thorough recruitment process which included carrying out checks to help to ensure they were suitable to carry out the work they were employed for.

People and their relatives spoke highly of the staff and described them as caring, kind, good and lovely.

Staff helped people make good food choices to promote their health and well being.

Systems were in place to assess and monitor the service in order to continually promote people’s well being safety and security.

We found a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere and the people we spoke to were happy about the care they received. Peoples comments included “I like living here” and “I like all the staff”.

We looked at all four care records of four residents living in the house. Each resident had a personal care plan which included religious and cultural needs, medical history, personal care requirements, day to day support requirement’s and mobility and dietary requirements

Each service user had a carer’s risk assessment plan which highlighted the risks to be considered of the individual resident. The examples we saw included the safe management of personal finances. We talked to two residents. They were happy with the way they were being looked after.

Comments included “the staff are very good to me" and" they take care of me and I feel safe". We saw a positive and caring attitude being displayed by the staff towards the service users. Comments included "have you had a good day at work today?" and “shall we do some more baking?

We looked at the staff personnel files and found that each member of staff had a supervision agreement which outlined the formal supervision that they could expect throughout the year. We saw policies that were in place to protect people from Abuse. The abuse policies outlined what form abuse may take and the signs of abuse that staff should look for. The individual risk assessments outlined the particular risks to each person living in the home.

GMS Carers currently support up to four people with learning disabilities living in a house which they rent under a tenancy agreement. As part of our review of this service we visited the house where people were supported by GMS Carers. There was only one person at home during our visit and they told us “I like it here and the staff look after me”.

This person described the support they received from GMS Carers which included helping them with their personal care needs, meals, activities, managing their money and shopping. Their comments included “I always go shopping and (the staff) come with me”, “I’ve got everything I need”, “I can choose what time I get up and go to bed and what I wear”.

We asked this person if they felt safe living at home and they told us “Yes I feel safe here, if I’m worried I talk to the staff.”