Mediline Nurses and Carers Derby Branch provides personal care and treatment for older people living in their own homes. On the day of the inspection the registered manager informed us that there were a total of 104 people receiving care from the service.

A registered manager was in place. 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Risk assessments were in place to protect people from risks to their health and welfare, though these did not cover all assessed issues. Staff recruitment checks were in place to protect people from receiving personal care from unsuitable staff.

People and relatives we spoke with told us they thought the service ensured that people received safe personal care from staff. Staff had been trained in safeguarding (protecting people from abuse) and understood their responsibilities in this area.

We saw that medicines had been, in the main, supplied safely and on time, to protect people’s health needs.

Staff had received training to ensure they had skills and knowledge to meet people's needs, though more training was needed on some relevant issues.

Not all staff understood their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) to allow, as much as possible, people to have effective choices about how they lived their lives. Staff were aware to ask people’s consent when they provided personal care.

People and relatives told us that staff were friendly, kind, positive and caring. People told us they had been involved in making decisions about how and what personal care was needed to meet any identified needs.

Care plans were individual to the people using the service which helped to ensure that their needs were met.

People and relatives told us they would tell staff or management if they had any concerns, and they were confident these would be properly followed up.

They were satisfied with how the service was run. Staff felt they had been fully supported in their work by the management of the service.

Policies set out that when a safeguarding incident occurred management needed to take appropriate and action by making referrals to the relevant safeguarding agency. The registered manager was aware these incidents, if they occurred, needed to be reported to us, as legally required.

Management had carried out audits in order to check that the service was meeting people's needs and to ensure people were provided with a quality service, though more detail was needed to fully show what checks had been made.