Gozone Care Ltd is domiciliary care service that provides support to people in their own homes. The service operates in West Sussex. The agency supports older people, people living with dementia, people with a physical, learning or sensory impairment and those with mental health conditions. They also provide palliative care. At the time of the inspection the service provided care to 147 people.

The service had a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC 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.

This was our first inspection to the service since it was registered in June 2016.

People were happy with the service provided to them and said they felt safe. There were policies and procedures with regard to safeguarding. Staff were aware about how to report any concerns. There were risk assessments in place which were regularly reviewed to help ensure people received a safe service. People received their medicines safely.

Staffing numbers were sufficient to meet people’s needs and thorough recruitment processes were conducted to check that any newly appointed staff were suitable to work with people.

Each person had a care plan and a copy of this was at their home. These gave staff the information about people’s care and support needs. An information pack was also provided which contained contact details for any relevant people. People also received a copy of the service users guide so people knew what they could expect from the service.

The agency provided staff with suitable training. Staff told us that training was readily available and the induction, which included a number of shadowing shifts gave them the confidence to work on their own. The registered manager told us staff had received training in the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005. Staff confirmed they had training and understood the basic principle of the legislation. This helped to protect people’s rights.

People’s care plans had information should anyone need support with eating and drinking and the care plan provided staff with details of how they should support people to ensure adequate food and fluid intake. People’s healthcare needs were monitored by staff and any concerns were reported to the office so that appropriate action could be taken.

People were positive about the staff who supported them. They said staff were respectful and polite and they were always treated with dignity and respect. Staff told us that they respected people’s decisions and said they encouraged people to be as independent as possible.

People told us that they received regular care visits but the only problems they experienced was the timings of some care calls which were early or late. However they said this did not impact on the care they received. The provider recognised this as an area for improvement. People and records confirmed that care staff stayed for the full allocated time. Staff said they were given time to travel between care calls. They also told us that they were able to carry out care tasks within the time allocated to them for each visit.

People told us they were provided with contact details of how to contact the main office if they had any concerns. They also knew how to contact the office out of working hours. Each person had a copy of the agency's complaints procedure in their care plan files which was kept at their home.

Gozone Care Ltd had a policy and procedure for quality assurance. There were a range of audits and checks carried out each month. These checks and audits helped the provider and registered manager to monitor how the agency was meeting people’s needs and how they could improve the service on offer. The registered manager told us they were always open to