This inspection was completed on 16 and 19 June 2017 and short notice was given as it is a small agency and we needed to ensure staff would be available in the office to talk with. This was the first comprehensive inspection of this service, as it changed legal entity 12 months ago to a limited company.

Time 2 Care (South West) Ltd is a care agency which provides care and support to people in their own homes. They mostly support people with conditions associated with older age and dementia. They cover the Bideford and Westward Ho! areas of North Devon. At the time of our inspection 33 people were receiving a personal care service from the agency.

The agency 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 and their relatives were positive and complimentary about the care and support they received from Time 2 Care (South West) Ltd. Comments included “They are first rate. Very good, they know what they are doing. I have no worries on that score. One relative said “I have to be able to trust the staff who support my (relative). I would not use them if I did not think they had the right skills and attitude.”

Care and support was well planned and done in collaboration with people and their family members. Care was delivered in a person centred way because plans gave details about how to do this and staff had the right skills, training and support. Consent was always gained and staff worked within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

The service ensured that where people needed support to eat well to stay healthy, they gave a good account of they were doing this, including records of what food and drink people were offered and had eaten.

People’s views were taken into account in the reviewing of plans and any suggestions about how to improve the service was listened to. People, relatives and staff all had an opportunity to feed into the quality auditing of the service, via surveys, meetings and review processes. People said staff arrived on time, did what they were tasked to do and were kind, caring and respectful towards them.

Staff were knowledgeable about people’s needs and their preferences. Staff were committed to providing a good quality service and often went the extra mile to help people. This included doing additional shopping in their own time.

Staff were compassionate and caring towards the people they helped. The agency promoted this caring approach with their ethos of ensuring people had the right support and information. This included things like support to make claims for help with care and, how to stay warm in cold weather conditions.

People were kept safe because risks were assessed, monitored and reviewed on a regular basis. Staff understood how to report any suspicions of abuse or areas of concern. Staff recruitment practise were safe, ensuring new staff had the right checks in place before they began working with vulnerable people.

The service ensured that people received effective care that met their needs and wishes. People experienced positive outcomes as a result of the service they received. For example one person had been assisted to become more mobile.

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.

The service had good systems in place to safely support people with the management of their medicines. People’s health and emotional wellbeing was closely monitored and where needed proactive actions taken to add