Last updated 19 March 2016
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 16 December 2015. The provider was given notice of this inspection. We did this to ensure the managers were available to meet with us and provide access to records. The inspection team consisted of one inspector.

Before the inspection we reviewed records held by CQC which included notifications and other correspondence. A notification is information about important events which the registered person is required to send us by law. This enabled us to ensure we were addressing potential areas of concern at the inspection. The provider also completed a Provider Information Return (PIR) before our inspection. This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. Along with the PIR, the provider sent us a contact list of people who used the service, their relatives, staff employed and other professionals involved with the agency. Using this information we sent out questionnaires to a range of people. We received responses from three people and four staff.

During our inspection we went to the agency’s office and spoke to the registered manager (who is also the provider) and two office staff responsible for delivering this service. We reviewed a variety of documents which included three people’s care plans, three staff files and other records relating to the management of the service.

After the inspection, we conducted telephone interviews with two people who used the service and seven relatives. We also telephoned nine care staff to seek their views on working for the agency. We were unable to obtain feedback from health and social care professionals.