About the service:

Heaven Scent Care Services Ltd 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 adults. At the time of the inspection, seven people were being supported by the service.

Not everyone using a domiciliary care agency 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.

People’s experience of using this service:

People were protected from harm by staff who had been trained, and were confident in recognising and reporting concerns. Potential risks to people health and wellbeing were assessed and minimised. There were enough staff to ensure people’s needs were met safely. People were supported well to manage their medicines because staff had been trained to do so safely. Staff had the right equipment and followed effective processes to prevent the spread of infection.

Staff had been trained and had the right skills to meet people's needs effectively. Staff were well supported and had information to meet people’s assessed needs. Where required, staff supported people to have enough to eat and drink. Staff supported people to access to healthcare professionals when required, to help them maintain their health and well-being.

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 were fully involved in making decisions about their care and support. People and their relatives were involved in planning and reviewing care plans. People told us staff who supported them were caring and friendly. Staff respected and promoted people’s privacy, dignity and independence.

Information in people's care plans supported staff to deliver person-centred care that met people’s needs. Staff had been trained on how to support people well at the end of their lives. The registered manager worked in partnership with other professionals to ensure that people received care that met their needs. There was a system to ensure people’s suggestions and complaints were recorded, investigated, and acted upon to reduce the risk of recurrence.

Audits and quality monitoring checks were carried out regularly to continually improve the service. The provider had systems to enable people to provide feedback about their experiences of the service. People's experiences of the service were mainly positive, and the registered manager showed us what they had done to deal with some of the concerns raised by people. Overall, there effective systems to ensure people received good quality care.

Rating at last inspection:

The service was rated 'good' when we last inspected it. That report was published in January 2016.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor all information we receive about the service and schedule the next inspection accordingly.

We carried out an announced inspection on 14 July 2015. Between this date and 27 July 2015, we spoke with people who used the service and their relatives or friends by phone. Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances, we completed this inspection on 22 October 2015 when we had made further phone calls to the care staff.

The service provides care and support to adults in their own homes. People supported by the service were living with a variety of needs including chronic health conditions, physical disabilities and dementia. At the time of the inspection, there were 56 people being supported by the service.

The service has a registered manager, who is also the provider. 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 risk assessments in place that gave guidance to staff on how risks to people could be minimised. There were systems in place to safeguard people from the risk of possible harm.

The provider had effective recruitment processes in place and there were sufficient staff to support people safely.

Staff sought people’s consent prior to care being provided. They also understood their roles and responsibilities to provide care in line with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA).

Staff received supervision and support, and had been trained to meet people’s individual needs.

People were supported by caring and respectful staff who ensured that they lived happy and fulfilled lives.

People’s needs had been assessed and care plans took account of their preferences and choices.

People were supported to have enough food and drinks, and to access other health and social care services when required.

The provider had a formal process for handling complaints and concerns. They encouraged feedback from people and acted on the comments received to continually improve the quality of the service.

The provider had quality monitoring processes in place and these had been used effectively to drive improvements.