This inspection took place on 14 August 2018 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location was a service for people who are often out during the day; we needed to be sure that someone would be in.

Human Support Group is a domiciliary care agency that provides care and support to people in their own homes. It provides a service to adults who need support to become independent in their own home. The service provides a six-week enablement service. At the time of the inspection the service provided care and support for 47 people. All staff were directly employed by Human Support Group.

At our last inspection we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

Risk assessments were in place with information on steps that should be taken to reduce any risks.

Staff had received training in safeguarding adults and the registered manager understood their responsibilities to identify and report any concerns. Safe recruitment processes were followed to ensure only suitable people were employed. The service was in the process of recruiting more staff.

Medicines were managed safely, and people were supported to administer their own medicines.

People accessed health and social care professionals and the service received good support from the person’s GP and pharmacist.

People benefited from strong, caring relationships with staff who treated them with dignity and respect.

People's rights were protected by staff who under stood the Mental Capacity Act and how this applied to their role.

People received effective care from staff who had the skills and knowledge to support them. 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 support this practice.

People were supported to maintain relationships and access the local community.

Effective management systems were in place to monitor the quality of care provided and to promote people's safety and welfare.

This inspection took place on 1 and 4 December 2015 and was announced. The provider was given 24 hours’ notice because the location is a re-ablement service providing short term support to adults in their own homes. Therefore, we needed to be sure that someone would be in the office.

This is the location’s first inspection since it was registered with CQC in December 2014.

At the time of our inspection there were 14 people receiving a service across various areas of County Durham.

The agency is a small re-ablement service that provided short intervention care for up to six weeks. The service has a contract with Durham County Council to provide 200 enabling hours per week. The majority of people using the service had been discharged from hospital and the re-ablement team helped them to regain and maximise their previous level of independence.

In addition, the branch provided a Crisis Night Sitting Service and a Care Assistants Emergency Support Service (CESS), both of which operated in the Durham and Darlington areas. The service operated on a temporary basis until formal support is arranged through Social Care Direct.

The Durham branch also provided a domiciliary care service in the North Tyneside area which provided personal care and domestic tasks to people in their own homes.

The service had a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who is 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. On the days of our inspection visit the registered manager was not on duty.

We found every person had a personalised care plan and risk assessment in place. Staff were aware of these risks and worked on a multi-agency basis to minimise those risks. When we visited people in their own homes, we saw an up to date carbon copy of their care records were kept in a file. People confirmed that they had been involved in developing their care records. People also confirmed that they had been involved in setting goals so that they could regain as much independence as possible. People were very complimentary about the care, treatment and support they received.

We saw the provider submitted progress reports every week to people’s care managers.

We found regular quality monitoring of the service had been undertaken. We also saw that senior support workers and an occupational therapist employed by the company completed spot checks in people’s homes. This was to observe staff practice and to ensure people were treated with dignity and respect and that their re-ablement plans were on course for completion.

We saw staff had received Mental Capacity Act and DoLS training as part of the induction training that was provided by the organisation’s accredited internal training department.

We found people’s medicines were well managed. People told us they were encouraged to manage their own medicines independently.

On the second day of our inspection, we visited four people in their own homes. All told us they were receiving very good support from very kind and well trained staff.

People told us they felt their dignity and privacy were respected by staff. One person said, “The staff are just wonderful, and they have time to explain things and to sit down and have a chat.” Another said, “Nothing is too much for them, I am now almost back to my normal self, I am so grateful for all the support that I have received.”

A relative told us, “I am always here when the support workers are arriving; they are always professional, kind and considerate.” Another said, “They are providing excellent support to our son.”

In addition, we looked at ten service users’ satisfaction surveys. All were consistently satisfied with the care and support they received. All said that staff usually arrived on time and stayed for the allotted time agreed. Comments included; “Very courteous and pleasant staff,” and “I could not have had better care for my wife. Staff are all friendly and helpful.”