This inspection took place on 23 and 26 September 2016 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ because the location provides a domiciliary care service; we needed to be sure that someone would be available in the office.

Right at Home (Mid Hampshire) provides personal care and support to people in their own homes. At the time of this inspection they were providing a service to 37 people with a variety of care needs, including people living with physical frailty or memory loss. Some people were receiving live in care services from the provider. The provider is managed from an office based in Eastleigh.

There was 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.

We received some excellent feedback about the provider, without exception people, their relatives and health professionals told us they were extremely happy with the care and support provided by Right at Home.

People, relatives, staff and professionals told us the provider was extremely well led with a clear, supportive management structure in place. The registered manager and managing director were actively involved in the day to day running of the service, fostering an ‘above and beyond’ approach, which was reflected by the motivation and dedication of their staff to the people they support.

Staff were passionate about their roles and were highly motivated to develop their skills and knowledge through training, supervision and peer support to enrich their working practice. Staff demonstrated a clear understanding of the provider’s values and this translated into delivering safe, effective and person centred care to people using the service.

The provider worked in partnership with other organisations to provide positive outcomes for people. Strong working relationships with professional organisations within people’s circle of support were fostered, helping to ensure that people’s needs were met and changes in their health were pro-actively identified and sensitively managed.

The provider had strong links to the community. They were actively involved in charity and advocacy groups which provided training and support for families, staff and meaningful day activities for people using the service. Staff were empowered to seek out and encourage opportunities for people to participate in their community. This helped to stimulate people’s interests and helped to avoid social isolation.

The provider had a strong vision and was skilled in providing excellent end of life care. Staff promoted people's dignity, choice and independence when caring for them. Care was provided in collaboration with people and their families to ensure that people were treated with kindness, compassion and their wishes respected.

Staff had extensive knowledge of people they worked with and their life histories. They supported people to maintain relationships that were important to them by using care flexibly to fit into their routines and timetables. Care was arranged to fit into the needs of the people, not the convenience of the provider.

The provider had a strong desire to learn and improve. Incidents were analysed to identify underlying causes which led to improvements being made. Quality Assurance systems were used to assess the quality of the service being provided and to identify areas for development. The provider was honest and transparent when things went wrong, management took responsibility for ensuring that people and their families were involved and informed about issues, problems and plans going forward.

Personalised care reflected people’s preferences and wishes. People were involved in their care planning and the registered manager had an open door