Archived: Dale Care - South Tyneside (Homecare, Extra Care)

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture.

This is the first assessment for this newly registered service. This key question has been rated requires improvement. This meant the management and leadership was inconsistent. Leaders and the culture they created did not always support the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care.

This service scored 61 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities. For example, there was an understanding of the need for complex medical care to be provided in people’s own homes to allow them to remain at home, safely with their loved ones.

Not all leaders understood the context in which the provider delivered care, treatment and support. They did not always embody the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders did not always have the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively, or they did not always do so with integrity, openness and honesty. Staff we spoke with did not feel supported by management. Comments included, “No [I am not supported], not at all, constantly having views disregarded and given false information by management” and “Honestly, I feel they couldn’t care a less about us as long as we get our work done.”

We passed these comments on to the operations manager who had already started acting on this and said even after two days staff morale had improved.

People did not always feel they could speak up and that their voice would be heard. Although staff felt confident to raise concerns, they were not confident that they were listened to. Comments included, “I am able to raise concerns, however I have a lot of concerns with management which have been disregarded”, “Yes, [I can raise concerns] nothing happens, gets brushed under the carpet” and “They [management] say they will get back to me and most of the time don’t, or say they will do something, but don’t.”

There was a whistleblowing policy in place and staff knew how to access it.

The provider valued diversity in their workforce. They worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them.

Staff received training on equality and diversity and the provider had an equality and diversity policy in place.

Although staff had a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities the provider did not always have clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability or good governance.

Staff did not feel supported by management and although the last staff survey showed over fifty percent of staff were unhappy, no follow up was undertaken. The operations manager was addressing this.



At the start of the assessment a registered manager was in place but left during this process. The deputy manager stepped up and planned to go through the registration process.

Throughout this assessment process the management team worked closely with CQC and were open and honest throughout.

The provider understood and carried out their duty to collaborate and worked in partnership, so services worked seamlessly for people. People and their families told us they received effective care and that their needs were met.

Staff and the management team told us they worked in partnership with other organisations such as healthcare professionals and commissioners to support the care provision. Records showed evidence of this joined up work.

One professional working with the service told us that since some initial issues, communication has now improved. One external healthcare professional said, “A new manager and registered manager were employed by Dale Care in 2024. This has fostered a culture of openness and transparency which has strengthened relationships with the local authority and partners.”

The provider did not always focus on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They did not always encourage creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. They did not always actively contribute to safe, effective practice and research.

We found improvements were needed to ensure there were effective systems in place to learn and improve the quality of the service. The concerns we identified regarding the systems in place to learn and improve the quality of the service were discussed with the management team who started to address the issues during the assessment.