This was an announced inspection that took place on 30 October and 1 November 2017. This was the first inspection after the service registered with the Care Quality Commission in November 2016.

My Homecare Manchester 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 young and older adults. At the time of our inspection the service provided support for nine people. Eight people had commenced their support since August 2017.

My Homecare is a franchise company who provide central support to services through advice, policies and procedures and training to individual services such as My Homecare Manchester.

The service had a registered manager 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 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The people who used the service and their relatives were very complimentary about the support provided by My Homecare Manchester. They said they felt safely supported by the My Homecare staff, who were kind and respectful, did not miss any support calls and completed all the tasks they were asked to do.

The staff enjoyed working for the service and said they were well supported by the registered manager.

People who used the service, their relatives and staff all said that the registered manager was approachable.

Care plans were person centred and included details of the agreed support required at each visit. Risks had been identified and guidelines put in place in order to mitigate the risks. Staff knew people and their needs well and were able to describe to us the support each person required. However we found care plans did not include much information about people’s likes, dislikes and hobbies.

The registered manager said they started supporting people within 24 hours of them being referred to the service. They completed an initial assessment and introduced staff to people before the support started.

Care plans and risk assessments were reviewed every six months or earlier if people’s needs changed. People and their relatives were involved in the initial assessment and reviews.

People received their medicines as prescribed. An assessment of people’s capacity to self-medicate was completed and the support they required clearly identified. All medicines administered by staff were recorded.

Where people had capacity they had signed their consent to the care plans. The local authority had assessed each persons need for support. Where people did not have capacity to consent to their support the local authority had agreed that the care and support was in their best interests. We have made a recommendation that My Homecare Manchester undertakes a capacity assessment as part of their review process and informs the local authority of any changes in a person’s capacity to consent to their care and support.

Staff had completed induction training with the registered manager prior to supporting people. They also shadowed another staff member so they could be introduced to the people they would be supporting and get to know their needs and the support they required. Additional training through on line courses had been completed.

Monthly supervisions were held with staff and team meetings were held. Spot checks were also completed with the registered manager observing staff during the support visits. A formal system of recording these checks was being introduced.

A system was in place to recruit suitable staff to be employed supporting vulnerable people.

A system was in place for recording and responding to complaints, incidents and accidents. No formal complaints had been received by the service. People and their relatives said they would contact the re