We visited the offices of Heart of England Mencap DCA Central on 5 July 2016. The inspection was announced. This was to ensure the registered manager and staff were available when we visited, to talk with us about the service.

Heart of England Mencap DCA Central provides a domiciliary care service and a supported living service, which provides personal care and support to people in their own homes. At the time of our visit, five different teams with their own service manager, supported 86 people. Twenty four of these people received a supported living service. The service was last inspected on 10 December 2013 when we found no breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations.

The service has a registered manager. 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 using the service and staff understood how to protect people from abuse. There were processes to minimise risks associated with people’s care to keep them safe. This included the completion of risk assessments and checks on staff to ensure their suitability to work with people who used the service.

There were enough suitably trained staff to deliver care and support to people. Staff received an induction and a programme of training to support them in meeting people’s needs effectively. Staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) and staff respected people’s decisions and gained people’s consent before they provided personal care.

People told us staff were kind and caring and had the right skills and experience to provide the care and support they required. Care plans contained relevant information for staff to help them provide the care people required. Staff treated people in a way that respected their dignity and promoted their independence.

People were involved in planning how they were cared for and supported. Care was planned to meet people’s individual needs and preferences and care plans were regularly reviewed. Healthcare professionals were positive about the care provided.

People knew how to complain and were able to share their views and opinions about the service they received. Staff felt well supported by the registered manager and were confident they could raise any concerns or issues, knowing they would be listened to and acted on. The registered manager valued staff and promoted their development.

There were processes to monitor the quality of the service provided and understand the experiences of people who used the service. This was through regular communication with people and staff, returned surveys, spot checks on staff and a programme of other checks and audits.

When we visited Heart of England Mencap DCA Central, we spoke with the registered manager, a support worker and the provider’s deputy operations manager. We spoke with two people who used the service during our visit. We read the care records for four people who used the service. We telephoned one person who used the service following our visit. We also telephoned a support worker following our visit.

People we spoke with were positive about the care they received. One person who used the service told us, “Staff are polite. They ask what I’d like to do.”

Staff demonstrated they understood people’s personal needs and the individual ways they communicated their needs.

We found that staff treated people with respect and gained people’s consent before they supported them.

We found that staff were aware of safeguarding procedures and knew how to keep people safe. People who used the service told us they felt safe.

We spoke with staff and found that they felt supported by their manager and felt able to raise any issues.

We found that there was a system for monitoring the quality of the service, which included customer satisfaction surveys.