This inspection took place on 6 and 7 October 2016 and was announced. We told the registered manager two days before our visit that we would be coming. This was the first inspection for this service.

Home Instead Senior Care provides domiciliary care and support to 89 people living in North Somerset and surrounding area. Home Instead Senior Care is part of a franchise that delivers care to people in many areas of the United Kingdom. This includes personal care such as assistance with bathing, dressing, eating and medicines; Help within the home covering all aspects of day-to-day housework, shopping, meal preparation and other household duties. The service also provides companionship services such as escorting people on visits or appointments, simple conversations and company. Of those 89 people 30 received personal care and the remainder received help in their home or companionship. We only inspected those people receiving personal care during this inspection, as this is the service that is registered with The Care Quality Commission. The staff who support people are known as ‘CAREgivers’ we called them this in the report and office personnel are referred to as office staff.

There was a registered manager in post at the time of this inspection. 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.

The service provided good support to people and was proactive to ensuring people’s safety and was responsive to people’s needs. CAREgivers knew how to identify abuse and what they should do if they suspected abuse. People felt safe and knew their care staff well. People were supported by staff who had satisfactory checks prior to starting their employment. Staff’s empathy to the caring role was explored as part of the interview process.

The service identified risks to people’s safety and was proactive at reducing risks through specialist equipment and technology. The registered manager gave two examples of how they had identified risk and had sought imaginative ways to keep those people safer.

People, their relatives and CAREgivers all felt the service was well-led and provided a high standard and excellent care. All were 100% satisfied with the care and service provided. The service was an active part of the local community. It provided information, training, coffee mornings and worked in partnership with different organisations to benefit the local community and staff.

There was a positive culture that was person-centred and that ensured people were at the heart of the service. One person told us, “When you ring the Office they will always try to help and see if they can do something for you. I would definitely recommend them.”

The provider had systems in place to monitor the quality of the service and an annual audit was undertaken by the franchises main office. The last audit undertaken was in September 2015 all actions identified had been taken.

People’s care and support was planned proactively and in partnership with them. The service actively promoted local activities, clubs and social activities to enable people and the local community to benefit from an enhance sense of well-being.

People and relatives were complimentary about the care and service they received. People were very positive about how responsive the service was to their changing needs and the support provided when changes had arisen. The service had a complaints procedure in place which dealt with complaints appropriately.

People were happy with how staff administered their medicines and felt they received it on time.

People and their relatives felt positive about the caring attitudes of the CAREgivers. All confirmed they were happy and that staff treated them