The inspection visit at Kare Plus was undertaken on 22 November 2018 and was announced. We gave 48 hours’ notice of the inspection to ensure people who used the service, staff and visitors were available to talk with us.

Kare Plus provides personal care assistance for people who live in their own homes. The office is based in Blackpool. Kare Plus is a domiciliary care agency providing practical and personal care to people living in their own homes in the Blackpool and surrounding areas. The agency includes supports for older people, dementia, mental health, physical disability and younger adults. The agency is part of a large organisation that has branches in the north west. Parking is provided outside the office building in Blackpool. At the time of the inspection visit the service was supporting 14 people.

A registered manager was in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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.

Kare Plus registered as a new service in November 2017. This was their first inspection since registration with CQC.

The service had systems in place to record safeguarding concerns, accidents and incidents and take necessary action as required. Staff had received safeguarding training and confirmed this when we spoke with them.

Risk assessments had been developed to minimise the potential risk of harm to people during the delivery of their care. These had been kept under review and were relevant to the care provided.

Staff knew people they supported and provided a personalised service. Care plans were organised and had identified care and support people required to suit their individual needs. We found they were informative about care people had received. They had been regularly reviewed and changes made when required so they were up to date. Staff had the right information to reflect people’s changing needs and tasks required when visiting people in their own home.

The registered manager provided training and reviewed staff skills to ensure they administered medicines safely. The registered manager regularly completed a medicines audit to assess the safety of related procedures.

Kare Plus had safe infection control procedures in place and staff had received infection control training. Staff spoken with confirmed they had been provided with protective clothing such as gloves and aprons as required. This reduced the risk of cross infection when providing personal care.

Care plans seen confirmed people's dietary needs had been assessed and support and guidance recorded.

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 supported by staff at Kare Plus told us they were treated with respect, dignity and by caring staff. A person we visited who used the service said, “They have been very good to me. They are always caring and will do anything that helps me.”

People who used the service knew how to raise a concern or to make a complaint. The service had kept a record of complaints received and these had been responded to appropriately.

The service used a variety of methods to assess and monitor the quality of the service. These included, quality assurance calls, satisfaction surveys (first one due to be completed) and care reviews. People supported by Kare Plus confirmed they has regular contact from the management team to ensure they were happy with the service.

The registered manager and staff were clear about their roles and responsibilities and from talking with them we found they were striving to keep providing a good standard of care and support to people in their care.