DCK Care Ltd

Updated 25 October 2022

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, 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

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 14 staff including the registered manager, senior care co-ordinator, administrator and carers. We spoke with five people and 11 of their relatives about the experience of the care from DCK Care Ltd. We spoke with one professional who had worked with the service. We reviewed six staff files in relation to recruitment. We reviewed five peoples' care plans, medicine records and supporting documents in relation to their care and the visits they received. We reviewed a range of information requested from the provider, including policies, rotas and training records.

Updated 25 October 2022

About the service

DCK Care Ltd is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to older and younger adults. The service supported 22 people at the time of the inspection. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (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. There were 12 people receiving regulated activity at the time of the inspection.

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

Risks to people were assessed and monitored. However, risk assessments needed further improvement to ensure risks were clearly mitigated. People's prescribed medicines were recorded in their care plan and any support required to take them. However, we found some care plans to be unclear.

People told us call times and lengths had improved and they felt safe with staff. Staff were recruited safely. Staff were trained and well supported. Safeguarding processes had been reviewed and action was taken to ensure people were protected from the risk of abuse and neglect. People told us staff wore personal protective equipment (PPE) when staff supported them with personal care.

People told us communication had improved, however a small number of people we spoke with told us they felt this could be better. Quality monitoring systems had been implemented and were effective to ensure the quality and safety of care improved. Issues we found during our last inspection had been addressed meaning improvements had been made. The registered manager and staff worked with health and social care professionals to ensure people’s needs were met. Staff told us the registered manager was supportive and acted on any concerns.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was inadequate (published 10 June 2022) and there were breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

This service has been in Special Measures since 27 May 2022. During this inspection the provider demonstrated that improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 31 March 2022. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve safe care and treatment, staffing, fit and proper persons, governance and safeguarding.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions safe and well led which contain those requirements.

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 inadequate to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for DCK Care Ltd 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.