- Homecare service
Meridian Health and Social Care - Manchester North
Assessment report published 25 March 2026
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of assessment: 11 February to 06 March 2026.
Meridian Health and Social Care - Manchester North is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. The service was supporting 130 people at the time of the assessment.
We carried out an assessment of this service on 11 12 February 2025. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last assessment to demonstrate how they would improve. We undertook this assessment to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements.
The provider had made the necessary improvements. There were effective governance systems demonstrating clear management and oversight of the service. The registered manager had made a significant difference, and staff were positive about the changes made since the last assessment.
We assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed autistic people and people with a learning disability respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted.
People were supported by staff who understood how to protect them from abuse and avoidable harm. Care plans were now regularly reviewed, and the scheduling of visits had improved.
Staff were recruited safely and the service had effective infection control processes in place.
Medicines administration required further improvement, and the provider had been responsive during the assessment to resolve these issues.
We found sufficient improvements had been made to address the 5 breaches of regulation identified at our last inspection. This included person centred care, safe care and treatment, safeguarding, staffing and governance. The provider was no longer in breach of these regulations.
People's experience of this service
Experts by Experience received mostly positive feedback from people and families they spoke with.They told us, “Anything [relative] needs is provided and nothing is too much trouble” and “They are very friendly and do a good job.”
There were some key themes. People told us the office was easy to contact, and their care plans were regularly reviewed when needed. They told us they felt safe and were treated with dignity and respect. Most people had the same regular care staff resulting in a consistent level of care and people with a learning disability or a diagnosis of autism were prioritised to ensure they had consistent staff who knew them well. This consistent support helped to ensure their communication needs were met.
There were still some issues with the visit schedules where some people felt rushed and others were frustrated when regular staff were on holiday. Out of 24 people and families spoken with this had impacted on 4 people. The provider was aware of the issues and work to improve the visit schedules was continuous.