About the service:

I Care (GB) Limited is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. Not everyone using I Care (GB) Limited receives the 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. When we inspected the service 17 people were receiving the regulated activity.

People’s experience of using this service:

People told us the staff supporting them knew them well and respected their needs, beliefs, preferences and personal privacy.

The provider had safeguarding systems to protect people from the risk of abuse or unsafe care. Care staff had received training on recognising potential abuse. The service had acted correctly to safeguard people by referring them to the local authority safeguarding team but office staff had not been notified us of the referrals made. The registered manager addressed this gap in staff knowledge immediately.

The registered manager was also registered as a manager at another larger branch of the company. The care coordinator/administrator was in day to day charge of the office and was in a management development role. The provider did not have a clear development plan for their progression into a management role or guidance on making safeguarding notifications to us during the registered manager’s absence. We have made recommendations about staff support and and checking their understanding of their role.

There were sufficient numbers of staff working with people and they received regular supervision. The provider had a recruitment process to help make sure new staff were suitable to work with the people in their own homes.

Staff were supplied with personal protective equipment for use to prevent the spread of infections and had received training on infection control.

The registered provider had procedures in place for assessing a person's mental capacity in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005. 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.

Staff reviewed and updated people’s care plans when changes happened. Care plans had been developed with the involvement of the person and family members, if appropriate.

The provider had a procedure for managing complaints. People and their relatives were aware of how to raise concerns or complaints. People told us they felt they could speak freely to staff if they had any concerns.

Senior staff carried out checks and audits were carried out to determine the quality of the care and ‘spot checks' were undertaken by senior staff to check staff practices were in line with people's wishes. The service had systems to monitor quality and people told us they were asked for feedback about the support they received.

Rating at last inspection: This is the first inspection of the service since their registration with us.

Why we inspected:

This inspection was part of our routine scheduled plan of visiting services to check the safety and quality of care people received.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service and plan to inspect in line with our inspection schedule for those services rated good. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk