North Yorkshire County Council operate Ryedale House. This service is registered to provide personal care to people in their own homes within the communities of Malton, Pickering and the surrounding areas. The service can provide support for a maximum period of six weeks after referral to help people rehabilitate and increase their independence or long term to help people stay at home. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 15 people in the community.

At the last inspection, the service was rated ‘Good’. At this inspection we found the service remained ‘Good’.

There was a registered manager at this service. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to manage the service. Like 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. Throughout this report we will refer to the registered manager as ‘the manager’.

People told us they felt safe and well supported by staff from the service. The provider followed robust recruitment checks, to employ suitable staff, and there continued to be sufficient care staff employed to ensure home visits were carried out in a timely way. People’s medicines were managed safely.

Staff continued to receive appropriate training to give them the knowledge and skills they required to carry out their roles. This included training on the administration of medicines and on how to protect people from the risk of harm. Staff received regular supervision to fulfil their roles effectively, and had yearly appraisals to monitor their work performance.

People were supported to have choice and control of their lives and the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Where staff prepared and cooked meals for people, people told us they enjoyed good food. People and their relatives gave us positive feedback about staff and described them as “Friendly, kind and considerate.”

Staff knew about people’s individual care needs and care plans were person-centred and detailed. We were told staff treated people who used the service with compassion, dignity and respect.

People told us that the service was well managed and organised. The manager assessed and monitored the quality of care provided to people. People and staff were asked for their views and their suggestions were used to continuously improve the service.

Further information is in the detailed findings below

This inspection took place on the 31 March 2015 and was announced. Notice of the inspection was given because this is a domiciliary care agency and we needed to make sure that someone would be available in the office.

North Yorkshire County Council operates Ryedale House. This location is registered to provide personal care. A domiciliary care service is provided to people in Malton, Pickering and the surrounding areas by Ryedale House. 87 people were supported in their own homes. The services can be provided for up to six weeks to help people rehabilitate and increase their independence using the Short Term Assessment and Reablement Team (START) or long term to help people stay at home.

There was a registered manager in post at this service. 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.

People who used the service told us that they felt safe and we could see that the service had made efforts to make sure people were safe.

Staff had been recruited safely and were trained in safeguarding adults. This meant that staff knew what to do if they suspected that abuse had taken place.

Medicines were given safely by staff who had received training and whose competency was regularly checked.

People told us that the staff were caring and that they had a cheerful approach. They knew people well and treated them with respect. If they needed to make a complaint people who used the service knew how to do so.

People had care plans that were person centred and up to date. They contained descriptions about people’s care needs and what staff should do to support those needs. These had been reviewed regularly and peoples comments gathered so that the service could use them as learning points and make any improvements that were needed to the service.

The service was well led by a registered manager who was supported by home care managers.

People's individual needs, preferences, likes and dislikes were recorded and were known by the staff. One person we spoke with said “I am treated as an individual.” This ensured people’s rights were being respected.

People were assessed and had support plans and risk assessments in place. This helped the staff to understand and meet people's needs. A person we spoke with said “The staff encourage me to do what I can and help me when I require this which enables me to feel independent. I feel secure in the knowledge they are coming to help me.” Another person said “I cannot praise the staff enough. They take their time right from start to finish. They look after me very well indeed.” People received help and support and were encouraged to develop their independence where possible.

There were policies and procedures in place to help protect people from abuse. Staff knew what action they must take if they suspected abuse was occurring. This helped to keep people safe from harm.

People we spoke with during our visit confirmed that there was enough staff to support them to meet their needs. One person we spoke with said “The staff are here when they are needed.” Staff we spoke with said they worked as a team to ensure people received care in a timely way.

People's views were being sought about the quality of the service provided. We saw that the management team acted upon any issues to make sure that people remained happy with the service they received.