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.

Notice of inspection

We gave the registered manager 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 14 February 2020 and ended on 15 June 2020. We visited the office location on 14 February 2020 and contacted people and care staff by telephone and email to gather their views between 19 February 2020 and 19 March 2020.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we held about the service including feedback from the local authority and notifications of significant events the registered manager had sent to us. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager and reviewed a range of records including the care records for three people and four staff files in relation to recruitment, training and supervision. We also looked at a range of records relating to the management of the service.

After the inspection

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic we were not able to return to the office to gather further evidence. We asked the registered manager to provide additional evidence by email and we received email feedback from a range of professionals who worked with the service.