- Homecare service
Nottingham DCA
Assessment report published 14 August 2025
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of assessment: 24 June to 1 July 2025. Nottingham DCA (trading as United Response) is a supported living service providing support to children, older people and younger adults with physical disability, people living with dementia, autistic people, people with a learning disability, people with sensory impairment and people living with mental health issues.
At the time of the assessment, the service was supporting 35 people with their personal care needs. We undertook this assessment due to age of the previous rating. Nottingham DCA was last rated good (published 27 July 2019).
We assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted.
We found a breach of the legal regulation in relation to governance. Care plans lacked specific detail and guidance for staff about people’s individual health conditions and the level of support they needed. Actions and support undertaken by staff were not always documented accurately or in a timely manner. However, we found no evidence that people had come to any harm from this. Staff knew people well and had formed trusting, open relationships where staff knew how and when to provide care despite the lack of written guidance.
We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.
People's experience of this service
People and their relatives told us they received good care from staff which made them feel safe. People told us they were involved in their care planning but people and their relative said they had not seen a copy of the care plan so could not confirm whether this matched people’s needs or wishes. Everyone we spoke with told us they were treated with kindness, compassion and dignity and were encouraged to be as independent as possible. People praised staff for their knowledge and support with their specific health conditions particularly in relation to mental health. People we spoke with were eager to tell us about the activities and experiences they had experienced with the support of staff such as holidays and weekly meetings of choir.