Sentricare East Mids Ltd is registered as a domiciliary care service which provides personal care and support to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection visit the agency supported 30 people with personal care and employed 25 care workers.

We visited the offices of Sentricare East Mids Ltd on 24 August 2016. We told the provider before the inspection visit we were coming so they could arrange for care workers to be available to talk with us .

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

People felt safe using the service and there were processes to minimise risks to people’s safety. These included procedures to manage identified risks with people’s care and for managing people’s medicines safely.

Care workers understood how to protect people from the risk of abuse and keep people safe. Care workers suitability and character was checked during the recruitment process to make sure they were suitable to work with people who used the service.

The registered manager understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA), and care workers respected people’s decisions and gained people’s consent before they provided personal care.

There were enough care workers to deliver the care and support people required. People said care workers arrived around the time expected and stayed long enough to complete the care people required. People told us care workers were kind and knew how they liked to receive their care.

Care workers received an induction when they started working for the service and completed regular training to support them in meeting people’s needs effectively. People told us care workers had the right skills to provide the care and support they required. Support records and risk assessments contained relevant information for staff to help them provide the care people needed in a way they preferred.

People knew how to complain and information about making a complaint was available for people. Care workers said they could raise any concerns or issues with the management team, knowing they would be listened to and acted on.

Staff felt supported to do their work and people felt able to contact the office and management at any time. There were systems to monitor and review the quality of service people received and understand the experiences of people who used the service. This was through regular communication with people and staff, returned surveys, spot checks on care workers and a programme of other checks and audits.

As part of this inspection we spoke with five people or their relatives that used the service. We also spoke with five members of staff and two social workers who have knowledge of the service.

People we spoke with were happy with the care provided. One person told us that staff “were always on time, they have manors and are really good at their job”, another stated they were “very good” and used all the relevant equipment.

The provider had carried out sufficient pre-employment checks on staff members helping to ensure that they were suitable to work with vulnerable adults.

The provider had quality assurance systems in place to help monitor and improve the service.

Although appropriate action had been taken the provider had not informed the commission about an allegation of abuse.

As part of this inspection we spoke with three people who used the service and two relatives. We also spoke with four members of staff and one professional who had knowledge of the service.

All the people we spoke with were very happy with the service and level of care provided. One person stated “they are brilliant, fantastic”. Another person told us that “they actually care”.

None of the people we spoke with had needed to complain. One person told us “I can’t believe how good they are”. A professional with knowledge of the service told us that they were “very impressed” and that they “couldn’t fault them”.

The provider had completed care plans and reviewed these on a regular basis. However, we found that not all relevant risk assessments had been completed and some did not contain sufficient information.

We were told by people using the service that staff always listened and respected people’s wishes, “I had a choice of times when staff could visit and the time they come is ok. Staff do listen when I say I don’t want them to visit me, I can just cancel a call“. We were also told by a relative that “we requested a male carer that could speak the same language as my relative and Sentricare was able to provide this”.

One person told us “I feel very safe when Sentricare staff are in my home”. A relative told us “I feel that my relative is safe with the carer, I wouldn’t leave them otherwise. I’d be straight on the phone to the manager if there was a problem”.

A person using the service told us “I’ve never had to make any kind of complaint. I think I would know what to do and I am sure it would be dealt with. There is a complaints procedure in our information pack”.