DCC Amber Valley Home Care

Updated 7 November 2023

The inspection

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

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 houses and flats and specialist housing.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

The inspection was announced. We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.

During the inspection

We spoke with 7 people who used the service and 10 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 7 members of staff including the registered manager, domiciliary service organisers and care workers. We reviewed a range of records. This included 3 people's care records. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were also reviewed.

Updated 7 November 2023

About the service

DCC Amber Valley Home Care is a domiciliary care service providing personal care The service is registered to provide support to older people, younger adults, people with a learning or physical disability, autistic people and people who have mental health needs. At the time of our inspection there were 39 people using the service.

People’s experience of the service and what we found:

At the time of the inspection, the location did not provide care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

Right Support

Risks to people and staff had been assessed and people's care plans were regularly reviewed and updated. Staff supported people to maintain their health and wellbeing by referring people to other professionals which supported their health and independence.

Right Care

People were supported as individuals, in line with their needs and preferences, people were involved with creating their care plans and their communication needs were considered and met. People using the service were given the opportunity to express their wishes for the care they would like to receive at the end of their life.

Right Culture

The service promoted a person-centred culture. The registered manager understood their responsibilities and had identified areas to improve the quality of the service through the audit systems in place. People's needs were assessed prior to them receiving care and support from the service.

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

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Requires Improvement (published 21 January 2020).

Why we inspected

We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of responsive and well-led only. For those key question not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for DCC Amber Valley Home Care on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow Up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.