- Homecare service
Daisychain Homecare Services
Assessment report published 3 November 2025
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of inspection: 18 to 23 September 2025. Daisychain Homecare Services is a domiciliary care agency providing regulated activity to adults and people living with dementia in their own homes. At the time of our inspection, 132 people were using the service, 121 people were receiving the regulated activity of personal care. This inspection was carried out following information of concern we had received about people’s care and treatment. We identified 2 breaches of regulation relating to the safety of the service and governance of the service.
We found people were at risk of avoidable harm as people’s care plans did not provide staff with sufficient guidance on how to support people with their known risks relating to moving, repositioning, skin integrity and catheter care. Accidents and incidents had not always been correctly identified as a potential safeguarding concern, whilst we found immediate action had been taken by the provider to keep people safe, we found thorough investigations had not always been carried out and appropriate referrals had not always been made to the local safeguarding team or CQC.
The provider ensured staff were recruited safely and received training appropriate for their roles. We analysed the provider’s call monitoring data and found concerns with how people’s visits were organised as staff travel time was not always scheduled. Medicines were managed safely and administered by trained staff, regular audits of medicines were carried out and where errors had occurred, appropriate action had been taken.
The provider did not always make sure people’s care and treatment were effective as information provided by external agencies was not always included in people’s care plans. Staff received training in the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and understood how to apply this into their practice. However, the provider had not thoroughly assessed people's capacity to make decisions.
The provider treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Stakeholders spoke positively about their relationships with staff and how staff treated people. The provider did not always make sure people were at the centre of their care and treatment choices as information in people’s care plans was generic and task orientated.
The service supported people living with dementia, we found the care plans in place referenced this, however they did not provide any information on how this presented for each person or any adjustments that staff may need to make to adapt the care they provided. The provider’s governance systems did not provide a thorough oversight of the service. Systems to monitor quality and safety did not identify areas of concern. The provider had identified concerns in governance and care planning and had developed an action plan to address these areas, at the time of our inspection this plan was in its initial stages. As a result, the necessary systems, and processes to support a culture of learning and improvement had not yet been fully embedded.
In instances where CQC has begun a process of regulatory action, we may publish this information on our website after any representations and/or appeals have been concluded, if the action has been taken forward.
People's experience of this service
The majority of people and their relatives shared positive feedback with us about their overall experience of the service. They spoke highly of the care provided, describing staff as kind, caring and respectful. People consistently told us they felt treated with dignity and staff took time to chat with them. However, feedback regarding staff punctuality was mixed. Some people told us staff generally arrived on time for their visits, other people told us they did not always receive their visits at their preferred time. During our inspection, we identified concerns that placed individuals at risk of avoidable harm as there was insufficient guidance available for staff on how to manage known risks associated with people's care. Risk assessments were not always detailed or tailored to people’s individual needs, and staff told us that care plans were not consistently updated to reflect changes in people’s needs.