This inspection took place on 2 June 2015. The inspection was announced. The provider was given three days’ notice of our inspection. This was to ensure the registered manager was available when we visited the agency’s office, and staff were available to talk with us about the service. At the last inspection in December 2013 we found the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.
House of Care Services is a small domiciliary care agency which provides care for people in their own homes. Some people received support with several visits each day, and some people received support 24 hours a day. On the day of our inspection the agency was providing support to two people.
A requirement of the provider’s registration is that they have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager at the service. We refer to the registered manager as the manager in the body of this report.
People and their relatives told us they felt safe using the service. Staff understood how to protect people they supported from abuse. People and their relatives thought staff were kind and responsive to people’s needs.
The management team carried out regular checks on care staff to observe their working practices and to ensure records were completed accurately. There was an ‘out of hours’ on call system in operation, this ensured management support and advice was always available for staff.
Staff were inducted and trained, so they had the skills they needed to meet the needs of people they cared for.
Management and staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA), and supported people in line with these principles. Where people had been assessed as not having capacity to make decisions, decisions had been taken on their behalf that were in their best interest.
People told us they knew how to make a complaint if they needed to. They were confident that the service would listen to them and they were sure that their complaint would be fully investigated and action taken if necessary.
Staff, people and their relatives felt the management of the service was open; people found the manager and staff approachable. Positive communication was encouraged and identified concerns were acted on quickly.
There were procedures in place to check the quality of care people received, and where systems required improvements the provider acted to make changes.