Background to this inspection
Updated
11 October 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
This inspection was undertaken by 1 inspector.
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
This inspection was unannounced.
Inspection activity started on 12 September 2023 and ended on 28 September 2023. We visited the location’s office on 28th September 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 reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used all the information we gathered to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We received written feedback from 4 external professionals who worked with the service, 8 people, 10 relatives and 14 care workers. We spoke with the registered manager, the compliance manager and the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.
We reviewed 3 people’s care plans and risk assessments, we reviewed 2 staff files, the provider’s training matrix and a range of documents relating to management oversight and governance.
Updated
11 October 2023
We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.
About the service
De Vere Care partnerships – Chelmsford is a domiciliary care agency providing care and support to people living in their own homes. At the time of inspection, the service was supporting 136 people.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Right Support:
The provider operated robust systems to help ensure risks to people’s safety and welfare were assessed and mitigated. People’s medicines were managed safely, and their independence with this task was promoted where possible.
The provider operated a robust audit system to enable effective oversight of the service. Staff were recruited safely and there were sufficient staff deployed to meet people's needs. There were no missed care calls and people knew who would be providing their care. Staff were appropriately inducted into the service and training was on-going throughout employment and as required.
Care plans included detailed information about the support people required. Where needed staff made appropriate referrals to other agencies and external professionals. 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.
Right Care:
Care was person-centred and respectful and promoted people's dignity and privacy. People and their relatives told us people were well cared for. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. People's care plans reflected their individual support needs.
Right Culture:
People received consistent care from a staff team who understood their individual needs. The provider’s management team led the service with an open and inclusive management style that helped to ensure people, their relatives and staff views were heard, listened to and acted upon.
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 11 August 2022).
At our last inspection we recommended the provider look at best practice guidance in relation to people’s protected characteristics and how to manage people’s choices about the gender of staff providing their care. At this inspection we found the provider had acted on this recommendation and had made improvements.
Why we inspected
We received concerns in relation to staff skills and experience. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report. The overall rating for the service has remained Good based on the findings of this inspection.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.
This was an ‘inspection using remote technology’. This means we did not visit the office location and instead used technology such as electronic file sharing to gather information, and video and phone calls to engage with people using the service as part of this performance review and assessment.