This announced comprehensive inspection took place on 05, 11 and 18 January 2017.

The service provides personal care to 48 people, in their own homes.

The service requires 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.

Support at Home had a registered manager who had been in post for several years.

The service used safe systems for recruiting new staff. These included checking references and a criminal conviction check using the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) for criminal records.

People told us they were happy about all the aspects of their care and support in their own homes. We found that the service was adequately staffed, with competent and trained staff members. They had an induction programme in place that included training staff to ensure they were competent in the role they were doing at the service and received on-going training. Staff told us they felt supported by the senior staff and the registered manager.

The care was person centred and individual to each person’s needs and staff and senior managers kept accurate and up to date records of the care they delivered. Staff knew how to safeguard people from abuse and report any concerns.

Risk assessments were carried out for people and where they needed help, were given support to administer their medication.

The service was monitored effectively for quality and people using the service were listened to and treated with respect and dignity. Any complaints were dealt with effectively and the outcomes were recorded.

The provider had complied with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards and its associated codes of practice in the delivery of care. We found that the staff had followed the requirements and principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). Staff we spoke with had an understanding of what their role was and what their obligations where in order to maintain people’s rights and were aware of the differences in the implementation of the MCA in a person’s own home.