Raglin Care Limited is registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes. The service provides support to people who have a learning disability and people who have mental health needs.

The service is located in Liverpool, and services are provided across Liverpool, Wirral, Sefton, Knowsley and St Helens. The service is a supported living service and people are provided with a range of hours per day or per week in line with their assessed needs.

At the last inspection, the service was rated Good.

At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

Why the service is rated Good.

People were supported to take risks to promote their independence in accordance with their comissioned care. Staff were safely recruited and deployed in sufficient numbers to meet the needs of people using the service. The service recruited staff to the equivalent of 110% of its contracted hours to provide cover for sickness, annual leave and training. Medicines were safely managed within the service by trained staff.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice. Staff received appropriate training and support which allowed them to meet people’s needs effectively. People were supported to maintain a healthy diet and to access healthcare services.

It was clear from our observations and discussions that staff knew people well and tailored the provision of care and support to meet individual needs. Staff involved people in day to day discussions about their care and support and gave them the option to refuse or do something different. People were given information in a way that made sense to them.

The care records that we saw clearly demonstrated that people had been involved in the assessment process and planning of their care. Where people had learning disabilities which limited their understanding of the process, the service had made good use of person-centred planning techniques to maximise their involvement. People’s wishes and aspirations were clearly recorded in files and regularly reviewed. The procedure for receiving and handling complaints was clear. A copy of the complaints procedure was included in the service’s statement of purpose and made available for people using the service or their representatives.

The provider encouraged people and their families to provide feedback through a range of formal and informal mechanisms. The staff that we spoke with were motivated to provide high quality care and understood what was expected of them. The registered manager had sufficient systems and resources available to them to monitor quality and drive improvement. Quality and safety audits were completed on a regular basis.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

People who were using the service had felt included in decisions about their care and support on a day to day basis. There were also some systems in place to enable people to contribute their views about the running of the service. For example a meeting / forum was held for people across the service to give their views and contribute to changes in the work of the agency, people had regular reviews of their support and people had been given the opportunity to complete surveys about their experiences of the service.

People using the service and their relatives gave us good feedback about the support people received with their health and personal care.

Each person had a care plan which described their strengths, needs, goals and individual choices and wishes. Care plans had been reviewed on a regular basis to make sure they were up to date.

People gave us good feedback about staff. People told us staff were “Very good” and one person told us they felt staff were “Brilliant”. We found that staff had supported the aims and objectives of the service in encouraging people to make choices, use their skills, and participate within their local community.

The inspection was carried out on 3 and 4 December 2014. We gave the provider 48 hours notice of the inspection in order to ensure people we needed to speak with were available. This is in line with our current methodology for this type of service.

Raglin Care Ltd is a registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide personal care. The service supports people who have a learning disability to live in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting approximately 120 people across four local authority areas.

The office base is located in Liverpool, close to the city centre. The office is accessible for people who use wheelchairs and it provides the facilities required for the running of the business.

We found that people who used the service were protected from avoidable harm and potential abuse because the provider had systems in place to minimise the risk of abuse. Clear procedures for preventing abuse and for responding to allegations of abuse were in place. Support staff were confident about recognising and reporting suspected abuse and senior staff and the registered manager were well aware of their responsibilities to report abuse to relevant agencies.

People were provided with good care and support that was tailored to meet their individual needs. People had a plan of care (support plan) which was detailed, personalised and provided clear guidance on how to meet their needs. Risks to people’s safety and welfare had been assessed and plans were in place to manage these.

Staff worked well with health and social care professionals to make sure people received the care and support they needed. Staff referred to outside professionals promptly for advice and support.

Medication was managed safely and detailed guidance was maintained about how to support people with their medicines.

Staff were able to tell us about the different approaches they used to support people to make choices. People’s care plans included detailed information about their preferences and choices and about how they were supported to communicate and express choice.

The registered manager and senior staff had sufficient knowledge and understanding of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and their roles and responsibilities linked to this. They were able to tell us how they ensured decisions were made in people’s best interests. This included referring to multi-disciplinary professionals as appropriate.

Staff told us they felt there was an open culture throughout the service. They told us they would feel confident to raise any concerns and felt that any concerns they did raise would be dealt with appropriately.

Staff recruitment checks were robust. Staff were only employed to work at the service when the provider had obtained satisfactory pre-employment checks.

Staff were well supported in their roles and responsibilities. Staff had been provided with relevant training and they attended regular supervision meetings and team meetings.

There was a registered manager at the service at the time of our 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.

Systems were in place to regularly check on the quality of the service and ensure improvements were made. These included regular audits on areas of practice and seeking people’s views about the quality of the service.