Archived: D & S Home Care Services

Updated 31 January 2017

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the registered provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 19 September 2016. To ensure we met the registered manager / provider at the service location, we gave short notice of our inspection. The inspection was undertaken by one adult social care inspector.

Before the inspection, the registered provider had been requested to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the registered provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. This had not been completed in the required timescale. We also reviewed our previous inspection reports and any notifications sent in to us by the registered provider, which gave us information about how incidents and accidents were managed. We spoke with the local authority safeguarding team, and contracts and commissioning team about their views of the service.

During our inspection, we visited two people in their own homes (with their permission). We spoke with the registered manager (who was also the registered provider), the service’s administrator and two members of care staff. We looked at two care plans, ten staff recruitment files, staff training records, staff duty rotas and a number of the registered provider’s policies and procedures. Following our office visit, we spoke in detail with one member of staff and a relative of a person using the service and reviewed a further two peoples care plans that had been sent to us by the registered manager.

Updated 31 January 2017

This inspection took place on 19 September 2016. To ensure we met the registered provider at the service location, we gave short notice of our inspection.

At the time of the inspection, D and S Home Care Service was providing a service to 28 people. Providing the regulated activity personal care to nine of these people.

The service was last inspected in January 2014, at that time the service was compliant with all of the regulations we inspected.

The service did have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the service is run.

We found multiple breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.

The registered provider had not always completed safe recruitment checks to ensure staff were suitable to care for people.

Safe systems were not in place regarding the administration of people’s medicines, we found staff at the service were not trained in administrating medication, this was addressed immediately following the site visit to the location.

We found risks to people who used the service had not been robustly assessed or managed properly. Measures had not always been put in place to minimise risks and to help find ways to reduce them.

People's care plans and risk assessments had not been regularly reviewed regularly with their involvement.

We found many staff had not received appropriate supervision, induction and training to ensure they were confident, safe and competent to provide people with effective and safe care.

There was no effective system in place to monitor the quality of the service people received.

Safe staffing levels had been maintained.

Staff gained people's consent before care and treatment was provided.

People told us staff treated them with kindness and respect. People's privacy and dignity was respected by staff.

People were supported to maintain their health.

The people who used the service expressed their satisfaction with the care and support they received.

People and staff told us the registered manager was approachable and supportive.