We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. The registered manager was on long-term planned leave when we inspected. An interim manager had been appointed to oversee the running of the service.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure the provider or manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 20 December 2019 and ended on 28 January 2020. We visited the office location on 20 December 2019 and contacted people and care staff by telephone and email to gather their views between 7 and 28 January 2020.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we held about the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the manager, the provider and the provider’s nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We also spoke with three members of the care team and reviewed a range of records at the service offices. This included the care records for four people and three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff training. We also looked at a range of records relating to the management of the service.

After the inspection

We contacted nine people who used the service and one relative to gather their views. We also contacted two care staff to gather their views of the service. We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. This included looking at staff training data.