This announced inspection took place on 14, 15 and 16 August 2017. This domiciliary care service supports people in their own homes with their personal care needs. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting 129 people.

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.

Improvements were required to the way that complaints were handled as not all complaints had been recorded or responded to appropriately. Improvements were also required to the assessment procedures to ensure that people could receive person centred care.

People received care that helped them to feel safe. They had risk assessments in place that supported them to receive safe care and they received their medicines when they were required. There were sufficient numbers of staff to provide people with the care they required, and they had been recruited with the appropriate checks in place. Staff understood their responsibility to recognise and report if anyone was at risk of harm.

Staff received training which enabled them to understand the needs of the people they were supporting, and staff performance was assessed to ensure people received good care. People's consent was sought by staff before they were supported with their care and people were encouraged to eat and drink on a regular basis. Staff understood when people needed help from a healthcare professional and ensured they were supported with this.

People had developed positive relationships with staff and they were supported by a staffing team that was respectful of their needs and treated them well. Staff demonstrated a good knowledge and understanding about the people they cared for and people’s privacy and dignity was respected by the staff. People and their relatives told us they were able to express their views and be involved in making decisions about their care and support and people were encouraged and supported to be independent.

People had a care plan which recorded their needs and the support they required with their personal care, and this was updated and reviewed when people’s needs changed. People also had a review at least once a year to see if there needed to be any amendments to people’s care. People were also supported to prevent isolation and loneliness.

A registered manager was in post and they split their time between two services. They submitted notifications to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) when required and had quality assurance systems in place to review the quality of care people received. The company compliance team and the registered manager carried out regular quality audits and the provider played a supportive role to the service. Questionnaires were sent out to people using the service and these were reviewed and actioned when necessary.