This inspection took place on 29 July 2016 and was announced. We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice that we would be visiting the service. This was because we wanted to make sure staff would be available to answer any questions we had or provide information that we needed. We also wanted the registered manager to ask people who used the service if we could contact them.

The service is registered to provide personal care and support to people in their own homes. The service provides support to younger and older people. At the time of the inspection the service was providing support and personal care to 38 people in their own homes.

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.

We last inspected this service on 24 September 2014. At that inspection we saw that the service was meeting all the regulations we assessed.

The culture of the service was to promote people’s wellbeing whilst providing personalised care and support. People were supported to take risks in their daily living and achieve their short, medium and long term goals.

People were fully involved in the development of their care plans to ensure that care staff knew how to support them in the way they wanted to be supported. Staff were aware of people’s likes and dislikes, their physical, social and cultural needs, what was important to them and how to support them the way they wanted to be supported. People’s care needs were regularly reviewed and staff made aware of any changes in their care needs immediately.

People were supported by staff who received a comprehensive induction and were well trained. Systems were in place to ensure staff had the most up to date skills they needed to meet the individual needs of the people they supported. Additional training was identified and sought in line with people’s individual care needs and every effort was made to ensure staff were supported in their learning. There was a culture of supporting staff to learn in order to provide a quality service.

People were supported by care staff who had received training in how to recognise possible signs of abuse and how to report any concerns. Staff were fully aware of their responsibilities in this area and what actions they should take to keep people safe from harm.

People were protected from harm because there were systems in place to identify and manage risks associated with their needs. A risk rating system was in place to assess the risks to people on a daily basis and staff were informed immediately of any changes in peoples’ care needs. For those people who were supported to take their medicines, systems were in place to ensure this was done safely and effectively.

The comprehensive recruitment process in place ensured people were supported by staff who were recruited safely and who had the values that represented the ethos of the service, which was to employ caring and compassionate people who were passionate about providing good care.

People benefitted from being supported by the same consistent staff group, who had been matched with them, and shared similar values and interests.

People were supported by staff who were aware of their health care needs and worked effectively with other agencies to their health and wellbeing. The service actively worked to support other agencies to find solutions to problems in order to assist people in their daily lives.

People and their relatives were complimentary about the staff who supported them, describing them as ‘kind’, ‘caring’, ‘thoughtful’ and ‘supportive’. Staff respected people’s privacy and dignity and were respectful when supporting them with their needs. Staff went above and beyond w

This inspection was completed by one inspector. On the day of our inspection we found 78 people were being supported in their own homes. We spoke with the registered manager and two team leaders.

We spoke with nine people who used the service, four relatives and five staff on the telephone following our inspection. Below is a summary of what we found. The summary describes what people told us, the records we looked at and what staff told us. We used the evidence we collected during our inspection to answer five questions. If you wish to see the evidence supporting our summary please read the full report.

Is the service safe?

People told us they felt safe. One person told us, "I feel perfectly safe." Safeguarding procedures were in place and staff understood their role in safeguarding the people they supported. Staff were aware of the provider's whistleblowing policy.

Staff knew about risk management plans and told us they supported people in line with those plans. This meant people were cared for in a way that protected them from harm.

The provider had appropriate systems in place to ensure people received their prescribed medicines in a safe way.

Systems were in place to make sure that managers and staff learned from events such as accidents and incidents, complaints and checks made on the service. This reduced the risk to people and helped the service to continually improve.

Is the service effective?

People’s care needs were assessed with them. We saw evidence that people were involved in their care planning and reviews by using communication methods that met their needs. We saw care plans were regularly updated.

Where people had complex needs that required the input of specialist health care services, assessments had been made by the appropriate professionals. Their recommendations were carried out by staff.

People received their medicines at the times they were prescribed in order to ensure they were effective.

Staff had been trained to meet the specific care needs of the people they supported.

Is the service caring?

People told us they were supported by staff that were kind and caring. One person told us, "The staff are lovely people."

People’s preferences, interests and diverse needs had been recorded and people told us care and support was provided in accordance with their wishes.

Is the service responsive?

Where the support was required, people were facilitated to engage in community activities.

People were asked their views about the service using appropriate communication methods and the provider acted on comments that people made.

Where care staff had noticed people's changing needs, their care plans were updated to reflect this. We found staff discussed people's care needs with them on a regular basis.

Is the service well led?

The provider had quality assurance and risk management systems in place. We found the service manager checked that risks were managed effectively

The provider sought the views of people who used the service. Records seen by us indicated that shortfalls in the service were addressed where they had been identified.

Staff told us they were clear about their roles and responsibilities and understood the quality assurance and risk management systems. This helped to ensure people received a good quality of care.

Staff told us the service was well organised and they felt supported by their managers.