The inspection was announced and took place on 06 October 2016. We previously inspected the service on 10 December 2013 and the service was compliant in the areas we inspected.

There was a registered manager in post 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.

Villa Care Agency provides personal care to people who live in accommodation owned and managed by Villa Care Homes Ltd. Villa Care Homes Ltd provides supported living accommodation. At the time of our inspection, four people received personal care from Villa Care Agency.

People were supported by staff who knew how to keep people safe from potential harm or abuse.. There were sufficient numbers of trained staff that had the appropriate recruitment checks to ensure people received safe care. People’s medicines were managed safely.

People said staff had the skills to meet their individual needs. Staff felt supported in their role by the registered manager. People’s rights were protected as staff sought their consent before providing care. People had choices of what they ate and drank and were involved in the preparation of their meals. People were assisted where required to access healthcare professionals.

People thought staff were kind, caring and showed them respect. People said their dignity and privacy was respected. Staff understood people’s choices and supported their independence. People were involved in their care and were supported to maintain their interests and hobbies. People said they knew how to raise concerns and were confident issues would be addressed.

People felt the service was well managed. Staff understood their roles and responsibilities. The provider had audit systems in place however these were not always effective. The provider had not submitted notifications to CQC as they are required to by law.

Villa Care Agency provided personal care to people who lived in accommodation owned and managed by Villa Care Homes Ltd. Most people had continuing mental health needs. At the time of our inspection, one person received a personal care service from Villa Care Agency. We visited the person in the house they shared with other tenants. We have no powers to regulate the standard of the accommodation in the house or the general support which everyone who lived there received.

The person we visited told us they were: “Well-looked after” by Villa Care Agency staff. The person did not differentiate between the personal care provided, which is the regulated activity inspected by us and the general support they received, which is not. We found that the person received a high level of overall support and care, a small part of which was funded as personal care by the local authority.

The person we visited told us they had consented to Villa Care Agency providing their personal care. We saw detailed care plans and records about the person’s needs and preferences in relation to their care. We saw that there were enough care workers to provide the personal care the person needed through the week. The care workers had appropriate skills and qualifications. The person was given their medicine in a safe way. We saw that the provider had systems in place to ensure that the person who received personal care had their needs met to an appropriate standard.

At this visit we spoke with the provider and the registered manager for the service. We were told that the provider owns a number of homes which are occupied by people who have varied mental health problems. These people had a tenancy agreement with another arm of the organisation known as ‘Villa Care Homes’. The provider and registered manager told us that they used to provide supported living services to all the tenants. We were told that they no longer have this contract following a reassessment of people’s needs by Birmingham City Council (BCC).

Comments made by the provider and manager such as “prompting”, “making sure”, suggested that supported living may still be maintained by the service. The provider and registered manager told us that Villa Care Agency now provided personal care and support to only one of these people.

At this visit we did not get the opportunity to speak with the person who used the services of the agency. We spoke with social workers who used the services provided by the agency. They told us that they were monitoring the care and support their client received.

We spoke with the registered manager at the time of our visit to the office. The manager told us that they had appropriate training to ensure the person they cared for was safe. We saw that robust recruitment procedures had been followed.

We saw that systems were in place to monitor the quality of care that people had received.