Grayson Home Care Ltd

Grayson Homecare provides domiciliary care services to adults and older people with varying needs living locally to the service. The office is staffed daily to cover business hours and an out of hours phone service is also available. At the time of our inspection the service was providing personal care to 43 people.

Not everyone using Grayson Homecare receives regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.

The service had 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.

The registered manager continued to oversee the service provided to people. Throughout discussion the registered manager demonstrated a thorough knowledge of people using the service and the staff team. The registered manager was supported by a team of office based staff and care staff who provided care and support to people in their homes.

Staff we spoke with clearly explained how they saw the overall culture and aims of the service, explaining that the support provided for people was their priority. Staff told us the registered manager always provided support and expected staff to be friendly, approachable and treat people with dignity and respect.

The registered manager had systems in place to monitor the quality of the care provided and make improvements to the quality and safety of the service. These included audits on areas covering care records and medication records.

People continued to remain safe as staff knew how to recognise and respond to concerns of ill-treatment and abuse. The provider followed safe recruitment procedures when employing new staff members. When people needed it, they were safely supported with their medicines by trained and competent staff members.

The provider followed effective infection prevention and control guidance when supporting people in their own homes. The equipment that people used was maintained and kept in safe working order and the provider undertook safety checks with people at their home addresses.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People's needs were assessed before they started using the service. Care and support plans were in place detailing how people wished to be supported and people were involved in making decisions about their care. The plans made good use of personal history and described individuals care, wellbeing and support needs. Staff knew the people they were supporting and provided a personalised service.

People were protected from the risk of poor nutrition and staff were aware of people's nutritional needs. People were supported during visits to and from external healthcare specialists.

The provider had an effective complaints procedure in place and people who used the service and their relatives were aware of how to make a complaint.

The provider worked closely with outside agencies and other stakeholders such as commissioners and social workers and ensured people's transfer between services was planned safely.

The five questions we ask about services and what we found