This announced inspection took place on the 13 November 2018. It was announced 48 business hours in advance in accordance with the Care Quality Commission’s current procedures for inspecting domiciliary care services. This is the first inspection under its new legal entity.

Tender Loving Care Ltd (TLC Ltd) is a Domiciliary Care Agency that provides care and support to adults, in their own homes. The service provides help and support with people’s personal care needs in the St Columb and surrounding areas of Cornwall. The service mainly provides personal care for people in short visits at key times of the day to help people get up in the morning, go to bed at night and support with meals.

At the time of our inspection 24 people were receiving a personal care service. These services were funded either privately or through Cornwall Council or NHS funding. There were 17 staff employed, some of those were office based to coordinate and manage the service.

There was a registered manager in place at the time of our inspection. 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.

Prior to the inspection we received a concern from a family member about the responsiveness of the registered manager. We spoke with people and relatives during the inspection who all spoke positively about the managers approach. Health and social care professionals told us the service provided care that met people’s health and social needs. They also fed back that the registered manager responded to people’s care needs appropriately. They told us that on the majority of occasions had communicated well and formed positive relationships with family members. We discussed this feedback with the registered manager so that they had the opportunity to reflect and see if any learning lessons could be taken from this.

People were extremely satisfied with the quality of the service they received and the caring approach from staff. People and family members told us they would recommend TLC Ltd based on their positive experiences. Comments from people included; “The carers are lovely, very kind indeed” and “The staff are polite, professional, kind and caring.

People told us they had not experienced a missed care visit. The service used a digital care planning and call monitoring system to ensure care visits were not missed. Staff had hand held monitors to input all contact they had with the person that day. They felt the system worked well and provided them with all the information needed to ensure the person received support they needed.

People received care and support from a consistent team of staff with whom they were familiar. Staff arrived on time and stayed for the full time allocated. People spoke positively about the staff that supported them and told us they were always treated with care, respect and kindness. Staff were respectful of people’s privacy and maintained their dignity. Staff had developed good relationships with people and were familiar with their needs, routines and preferences

Staff were respectful of the fact they were working in people's homes. The service offered flexible support to people and were able to adapt in order to meet people's needs and support them as they wanted.

There were processes in place to protect people and the security of their home when they received personal care, including staff wearing uniforms and carrying identification. People received information about who they should expect to be delivering their care so they were aware of who was due to call upon them.

People told us they felt safe and that staff had the skills and knowledge to provide the required care.

Safeguarding procedures were in place and staff understood the