We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) 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 Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection was undertaken 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. The ExE had experience of care for older people and those living with dementia.

Service and service type:

Sensa Care provides support and personal care to people living in their own home. Not everyone required a personal care service and at the time of our inspection sixteen people were receiving personal care from Sensa care. 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.

Notice of inspection:

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit. This is because the service is small and we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be available. Inspection site visit activity started on 27 March 2019 and ended on 29 March 2019. We visited the office location on 27 March 2019 to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.

What we did:

Before the inspection we reviewed the information, we had received about the service, including notifications. Notifications are information about specific important events the service is legally required to send to us. We also considered information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

During the inspection we gathered information from:

• Nine people using the service.

• Two relatives of a people using the service.

• Five people’s care records.

• The registered manager.

• The deputy manager.

• Audits and quality assurance records.

• Records of recruitment, training and supervision.

Following the inspection, we gathered further information from:

• Four care staff.