Domiciliary Care Services (UK) Limited

Updated 24 January 2024

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

This inspection was carried out by 2 inspectors and 2 Experts 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.

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

We gave the service 48 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.

Inspection activity started on 13 November 2023 and ended on 16 November 2023. We visited the location's office on 13 and 14 November 2023.

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. We sought feedback from the local authority contracts monitoring team and reviewed the information they provided. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 10 people who use the service and 7 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 7 staff members, including the registered manager, operations manager, and care workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 6 people's care and support plans, medicines administration records, staff recruitment files, the staff supervision matrix and staff meeting records. A variety of records relating to the management of the service were also reviewed.

Updated 24 January 2024

About the service

Domiciliary Care Services (UK) Limited is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people living in their own homes. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection there were 52 people receiving the regulated activity of personal care.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Medicines were not always managed safely. People's risk assessments and care plans were not always detailed. We found no evidence anyone had been harmed but this had put some people at risk of potential harm. There were quality assurance systems in place. However, not all the provider's audits were effective. The provider had not previously identified the issues we found.

People’s care plans were not always person-centred however, people were positive about the support they received from staff. We have recommended the provider reviews documentation to ensure it is person-centred. Staff worked in partnership with other organisations and services to provide people's care and support. There were systems and processes in place to safeguard people from the risk of abuse. People and relatives told us they/their family member were safe being supported by staff.

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. People’s ability to consent to care was considered, however records detailing how a person’s capacity was assessed were not clear. We have recommended the provider reviews their processes for recording how capacity was assessed.

Feedback was gathered through surveys and meetings. Staff felt supported and valued. People told us staff supported them with dignity and respect. Feedback from people and their families about the service was mostly complimentary.

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 good (published 23 August 2019).

Why we inspected

We inspected this service due to the length of time since the previous inspection.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Domiciliary Care Services (UK) Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment and good governance at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

We have made recommendations that the provider reviews their recording processes to ensure records are person-centred and also reflect how a person's mental capacity is assessed.

Follow up

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