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

An inspector and an Expert by Experience carried out the inspection. 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 inspection was carried out over two days. The first day was announced and used to visit the office. The second day was to visit people who used the service and their extended families.

Service and service type

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

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 a short period notice of the inspection because this is a small service and we wanted to ensure staff were in the office and could arrange for us to visit people who used the service.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we already held about the service including previous inspection visit reports, share your experience which gives you feedback about the service and notifications which are important events the service is required to tell us about.

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 this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection.

We spoke with the registered manager, the operations director of west Norfolk, the call scheduler, four caregivers, and the caregiver coordinator. We also visited four people, three were supported by relatives who were spoken with and we met several caregivers and were able to observe their interactions. Whilst in the office we looked at records, training, recruitment, care plans and assessments.

After the inspection.

We continued to review information received and spoke with a further two people.