Inspection site visit activity started on 17 July 2018 and ended on 06 August 2018. This was the first inspection of this service since it was registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to older people.

Not everyone using the service receives 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. The service was provided mostly to people living in the Stockport and East Cheshire area. At the time of our inspection 18 people were using the service.

People told us they felt safe. Care workers were trained in safeguarding and understood their responsibilities to report concerns. Processes were in place to ensure any concerns raised were dealt with appropriately.

Risks to people were assessed by two experienced members of the management team. People and their relatives were encouraged to contribute to the care planning process to they could achieve their goals in a safe way.

Checks were made on new care workers to ensure they were suitable before they were offered employment. Once care workers had been offered employment they underwent appropriate training and were shadowed by more experienced staff until the management were satisfied they were competent and knew the people they were supporting.

Where people needed support with their medicines, the risks associated with this were assessed and recorded. Any support given was well documented by care workers and regular reviews of medication support plans were undertaken to ensure people received their medicines as they had been prescribed.

Care workers felt very supported and commented that they saw the management team frequently. Care workers told us the training they undertook provided them with the skills they needed and could request further training if they felt it would help them support a person better. Care workers had regular formal supervisions but also had frequent informal support from the management team.

People were supported to maintain a healthy diet and extra efforts had been made during the warm weather around the time of our inspection to ensure people were well hydrated.

The service sought advice from other healthcare providers such as GPs or district nurses when people using the service needed them. The service supported people to attend appointments at hospital to ensure their wellbeing.

People’s ability to make decisions for themselves was assessed and kept under review. Where people sometimes lacked the ability to make decisions, efforts were made to help them make the choices they could and family members were involved in making the decisions they could not in line with the Mental Capacity Act.

People using the service told us the service was very caring and dependable. Relatives also told us they felt they could depend on the service to look after their relatives well.

People were encouraged to remain as independent as possible and do the things they could for themselves. People working in the service were aware of the needs of the people they supported and knew them well. The managers of the service chose to do care calls to ensure they also knew the people using the service and the care staff well.

People told us the managers of the service frequently asked them whether the service was meeting their needs and what could be improved. People’s care records were updated whenever a person’s needs changed.

The service had a process in place for investigating and responding to complaints. People told us they knew how to complain and would have no hesitation doing so. People said any minor grumbles they had were dealt with quickly and resolved by the managers of the service.

The service had a registered manager