Poppy’s Homecare Limited provides care and support to mostly older people, who live in their own homes. The services provided include personal care and domestic work for people living in Weston-super-Mare, Winscombe, Congresbury, Backwell, Nailsea and the surrounding areas.

The service had 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.

We visited the office on 9 January 2017. We carried out phone calls to people who used the service, their relatives, and healthcare professionals between 12 January and 23 January 2017. At the time of this announced inspection 64 people were receiving personal care from the service. The service met all of our regulations at the previous inspection in January 2014.

People benefited from a management team who had clear visions and values about how the service was to be delivered. People and their relatives were keen to tell us about the management and consistently high standards of care they received from Poppy’s. Comments included “I can’t speak highly enough of them; Poppy’s are definitely the best”; “They’re the high end of care”; and “I always have outstanding responses.” Professionals who were involved with the service said “They’re brilliant. If I had to choose an agency I can honestly say I would recommend Poppy’s”; “Poppy’s are always top of my list; they’re where they need to be” and “They have a very good reputation.”

People were supported by a strong, stable staff team who knew them well and focused on ensuring they received the highest quality of care. Without exception people and relatives all spoke very highly of the staff who cared for and supported them. Comments included “The carers are excellent; we wouldn’t get by without them”; It lifts my day when the carers come in”; “They’ve almost become part of the family”; “The carers really connect with mum” and “very friendly, helpful, cheerful and they do everything they possibly can.” The registered manager and staff gave us many examples of how they went ‘the extra mile’ for people and the difference this had made for them. For example, staff had supported one person to order a new motability car because they knew how important it was to them to go out. Staff were highly motivated and had gone out of their way to support people in their own time.

People were involved in developing and running the service. For example, people were asked for feedback on staff’s performance through reviews and an annual survey. The survey carried out in 2016 was completed by 41 people and 5 relatives. People and their relatives showed 98% satisfaction overall. In response to the findings the provider had taken action. For example, one person said they would like their visit record in large print. We spoke with the person and they told us they now received a large print rota and it was so much better.

People and their relatives were involved in their care and staff respected people’s wishes. People’s care plans were personalised and included information about how they liked things to be done. People told us staff gained consent before carrying out personal care and respected their choices. People told us they liked to be independent and staff respected this, offering help when needed. Staff said “It’s about enabling the person to live an independent and fulfilled life”.

Staff had an in-depth appreciation of people’s individual needs around privacy and dignity. A health professional commented “They treat people with total respect, it’s so nice.” Dignity was high on the agenda and the management team had made improvements to embed the principles in people’s care and support. One person told us “They are very polite, very respectful and don

We visited four people in their homes and talked with four people on the phone who were using services. We also talked with two relatives. All the people we spoke with told us they were very happy with the care given and that staff and managers were all prepared to 'go the extra mile'.

People told us that they were always treated with respect and dignity and that their consent was obtained before any care was given. We reviewed care records which showed that people had been involved in developing their care plans and that they were supported to be as independent as possible.

We spoke with seven staff who worked for Poppy's Homecare who told us that the managers were very supportive and ensured that staff had sufficient time to enable them to 'do a really good job'.

The provider had a medications administration policy and where they were responsible for administering medication, staff completed the paperwork accurately and fully. Relatives told us that they felt that staff were always very responsible and careful when dealing with medication. Staff told us that they had received training in medication and that when any concerns arose they were able to contact managers to discuss and resolve the issues.

The provider had systems in place for monitoring and assessing the quality of service provision including dealing with complaints. People told us that they knew how to raise a concern or complaint, which they felt would be dealt with promptly and fairly.

We carried out a themed inspection looking at domiciliary care services. We asked people to tell us what it was like to receive services from this home care agency as part of a targeted inspection programme of domiciliary care agencies.

The inspection team was led by a CQC inspector joined by an Expert by Experience, who has experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of service.

We used telephone interviews and home visits to people who used the service and to their main carers (a relative or friends).

We visited four people who lived in their own home and spoke to 18 people over the telephone. Every person we spoke to praised the agency highly. They told us that the staff and office team were “exemplary”. They told us their dignity and independence was respected at all times; one person said, “They respect and treat me as an individual”, a relative told us, “his treatment is carried out in a respectful way and they dress my father with dignity”.

People told us that when they made requests the agency respected their wishes, one person said, “I asked for three specific care workers, older women, the office sorted it, they are sensible and polite”.

One person we visited told us, “they used to look after my husband and now they look after me, they made everything bearable when I lost him, if it hadn’t been for their support I’m not sure what I would have done. To be honest they would have a job to do a better job than they do”.

People confirmed that they were visited by regular staff who they knew and that the office contacted them regularly for feedback on staff and their care needs.

We also spoke to four care workers employed by the agency. They all praised the way they were supported by the provider/manager and office staff. They all confirmed that training was readily available and that they met with team leaders to discuss clients working practices and training needs.

The agency worked with the local college to enable apprentices to experience care in the community. They were recently presented with the training award, ‘Adult care employer of the year,’ from Weston College.