We carried out an announced inspection on 19 December 2016. This was the first inspection of this service.

Memories Home Care is a domiciliary care service that provides care and support for people living with dementia, physical disabilities and mental health conditions.

A registered manager was in place at the time of the inspection. 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 service provided person centred care and support to people and took into account peoples preferences.

Staff could explain how they would recognise and report abuse and had received the appropriate training in safeguarding adults.

There were systems in place to ensure that medicines had been stored, administered and reviewed appropriately. Staff had been trained in the administration of medicines and their competency assessed annually.

Person centred risk assessments had been undertaken. Plans were put in place to minimise any risks identified for people and staff to ensure they were safe from harm.

Staffing arrangements were adequate to meet the needs of people using the service.

There were appropriate procedures in place for the safe recruitment of staff and to ensure all relevant checks had been carried out.

Staff was up to date with their mandatory training which included basic life support health and safety, information governance, fire safety, moving and handling and infection control.

Staff received regular one to one supervision and the content of supervision sessions recorded was relevant to individuals’ roles.

The registered manager and the staff had a good understanding of the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA).

Staff were very clear that treating people with dignity and respect was a fundamental expectation of the service. They had a good understanding of equality and diversity and understood the need to treat people as individuals.

Care plans were personal and provided detailed information for staff to follow.

A complaints policy and procedure was in place, and structures were in place to address complaints effectively.

The culture at the service was positive and open and the registered manager was approachable.

Regular spot checks on staff performance were undertaken to measure competency and if required, appropriate steps would be taken to address any shortfalls.

Quality assurance questionnaires were also undertaken twice yearly with people using the service and their relatives in order to measure satisfaction and ensure a high quality service was being delivered.