K.C. Carers provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection they were providing care to 44 people living in Northamptonshire.

At the last inspection in August 2015, the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

People continued to receive care and support from K.C. Carers in a way that maintained their safety. Risks to people had been assessed and steps taken to mitigate people’s assessed risks. People could be assured that sufficient numbers of staff were available to provide their care and that they would receive their prescribed medicines safely.

The staff providing people’s care had received the support, supervision and on-going training that they needed to provide people’s care effectively. People were supported to maintain adequate nutrition and staff promptly referred people to medical professionals when required.

People continued to be consistently treated with dignity and respect and staff worked in a way that maintained people’s privacy. Staff were committed to providing care according to people’s individual preferences.

There was a strong system of quality assurance overseen by a visible and supportive management team. The management team was committed to the on-going development of the service and responded positively to suggestions and comments from people, commissioners and staff. The management team encouraged an open culture that promoted person centred care for the people that K.C Carers supported.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

This announced domiciliary care inspection took place over two days on the 26 June and 2 July 2015.

K.C.Carers is a domiciliary care agency that provides care and support to adults that live at home throughout Northamptonshire, although predominantly in and around Daventry and the surrounding rural villages.

A registered manager was in post. 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.

People were cared for in their own homes by trained care workers that were able to meet people’s needs safely. People’s needs were assessed before the agreed service was provided. There were sufficient numbers of care workers employed to meet people’s needs. People had been kept informed in a timely way whenever care workers were going to be arriving late, or when another care worker had to be substituted at short notice.

People were protected from the risks associated with the recruitment of care workers by robust recruitment systems and appropriate training. Risk assessments were in place to reduce and manage the risks to peoples’ health and welfare.

People’s care plans reflected their needs and choices about how they preferred their care and support to be provided. People were encouraged to be involved in the development and review of their care plan.

People were treated with dignity and their right to make choices about how they preferred their care to be provided was respected. Care workers were caring, friendly, and responsive to people’s changing needs. People received support from care workers that were able to demonstrate that they understood what was required of them to provide people with the care they needed.

People’s rights were protected. People knew how to raise concerns and complaints. Complaints and allegations were appropriately investigated and action was taken to make improvements to the service when this was found to be necessary.

There were systems in place in place to assess and monitor the quality of the service. People’s views about the quality of their service were sought and acted upon.