This inspection took place on 01 November 2018 and was announced. Love Nursing provides support to people living in their own homes in the Merseyside area. At the time of our visit, the service was providing support for 12 people, five of whom were children. There were people who were in receipt of 24-hour support from Love Nursing and there were 60 staff employed by the service. This was the first inspection of Love Nursing since the service registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to older adults, younger disabled adults and children. 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.

The service is required to have a registered manager. 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 registered manager had very recently left Love Nursing however a replacement was due to start within the following two weeks. We liaised with the clinical lead during the inspection.

The provider had systems in place to ensure that people were protected from the risk of harm or abuse. We saw there were procedures in place to guide staff in relation to safeguarding adults and children all staff had undergone training about both safeguarding and whistleblowing. Accidents and incidents were monitored and reviewed.

We found that robust recruitment practices were in place which included the completion of pre- employment checks prior to a new member of staff working at the service. Staff received a comprehensive induction programme and had regular training, supervision and ongoing support to enable them to work safely and effectively.

The care plans and risk assessments we looked at contained good information about the support people required and recognised people's needs. All records we saw were complete and up to date and regularly reviewed. We found that people were involved in decisions about their care and support. We also saw that medications were handled appropriately and safely.

Policies and procedures were in place and updated, such as safeguarding, complaints, medication and other health and safety topics. Management and quality assurance systems had been devised and were in place to drive continuous improvement of the service.

Staff understood the need to gain consent and followed legislation designed to protect people's rights and freedoms.

We saw that infection control standards were monitored and managed appropriately. The provider had an infection control policy in place to minimise the spread of infection, all staff had attended infection control training and were provided with appropriate personal protective equipment such as gloves and aprons.