This inspection took place on 31 August 2018. The inspection was announced. We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice of our inspection to ensure we could meet with the provider of the service and the registered manager. There was one person using the service at the time of this inspection and they were primarily supported by another care provider. Prime 4 Care supported this person with a limited care package and we only looked at this aspect of care during this inspection.

Prime 4 Care is a domiciliary care agency which is registered to provide personal care support to people in their own homes. The service was registered in September 2017 and had not previously been inspected. Due to the limited service being provided at the time of our inspection, we could not answer all the key lines of enquiry (KLOEs) against the regulated activity. We have therefore not been able to award a rating for the service.

There was a registered manager in post. 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 provider and registered manager understood their responsibility to keep people safe by minimising risks associated with people’s support needs and reporting any safeguarding concerns to the local safeguarding authority and to CQC.

People’s needs were assessed when they started using the service to ensure they could be met effectively. People and those closest to them were involved in the assessments which were used to develop a care plan. People’s support needs were met in accordance with their care plan and care workers arrived when expected and stayed for the time arranged with them.

The provider’s vision was for a domiciliary care service where care workers had time to build trusting relationships with people. Care was delivered in accordance with this vision and care workers gave people time to understand information and communicate their choices for how they wanted their care to be delivered. People were given information about how to raise any concerns or complaints and felt confident the service was responsive if any changes were required.

The provider had plans to recruit new staff as the service developed and grew. They had arranged an external provider to deliver training and intended that staff new to care completed the Care Certificate.

As the service had only recently started supporting people, checks as to the quality of the service had been limited. The provider told us they planned to develop their quality assurance system so they could remain responsive to people’s needs and identify any areas that required improvements.