This inspection took place on 21 and 22 November 2018 and was announced.

The inspection was partly prompted due to some concerns we had received concerning staff training and missed calls. We discussed these concerns with the registered manager during our inspection who was aware of and had resolved these issues.

At the time of our inspection the service was providing small packages of care to 40 people.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community as well as specialist housing. It provides a service to older adults and younger disabled adults. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks relating to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also take into account any wider social care provided.

There was a registered manager in post.

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.

Risks assessments were in place and were reviewed regularly. Risk assessments were in place and contained information with regards to the management and reduction of risk. Some information was not always recorded clearly. We discussed this at the time with the registered manager.

Staff were recruited safely and checks were made on their character and suitability to work with vulnerable adults. Staff were only allowed to work once these checks came back as satisfactory.

Medication was stored in people's own home and administered safely. Where staff were responsible for administering people's medication this was done by trained staff who had their competency assessed by the registered manager. There had been some concerns around the administration of medications, however we saw that lessons had been learnt from these and practices had improved.

Staff were provided with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) such as gloves and aprons in accordance with the service's infection control procedure.

Staff were aware of safeguarding procedures and were able to describe the action they would take to ensure people were kept safe from harm. This included raising alerts to the registered manager, local authority safeguarding teams, the police, or whistleblowing.

There was some confusing information around the application of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and best interests. We saw that despite the registered manager and the staff having an understanding of this legislation, the care plans we viewed differed in their documentation of MCA and best interests. We have made a recommendation about this.

People were supported by staff with eating and drinking and staff were aware of people’s dietary preferences.

Staff supported people to contact other healthcare professionals such as GP’s and District Nurses if they felt unwell.

Staff undertook training in accordance with the registered providers training policy. Staff told us they enjoyed the training. Training was a mixture of e-learning and practical training sessions. Staff spoken with confirmed they had regular supervision and an annual appraisal.

People we spoke with were complimentary about the caring nature of the staff and we received positive comments about the registered manager. We did not observe care being delivered, however, people told us staff were kind and caring in their approach. One person discussed some concerns they had at the beginning of the care package, however did say the office staff had responded promptly and these were now addressed.

People told us that they were always kept informed and involved in their care.

Care plans contained information about people, what their preferences were and how they lik