Delta Care Ltd

Updated 8 February 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 carried out by one inspector and one medicines 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 although there was a manager registered with the service, they were no longer working at the service and were in the process of de-registering with CQC. A new manager had started at the service and was in the process of registering with CQC.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 5 December 2022 and ended on 20 December 2022. We visited the location’s office on 5 December 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. 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 used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We attended the office and spoke with the manager, the operations manager and a care co-ordinator.

We looked at records in relation to people who used the service including five care plans, multiple medicines records and systems for monitoring the quality of the service provided.

After the inspection we continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at policies and quality assurance records. We spoke with four people and five relatives on the telephone to help us understand their experience of the care and support received. We also spoke with three members of care staff on the telephone.

Updated 8 February 2023

About the service

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people who live in their own homes. It provides a service to older people and those who may live with dementia, mental health conditions, physical disability and sensory impairment.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection the service was providing support to 125 people.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Although the service was safe, we have made a recommendation about the recording of medicines by staff. Although we were assured people were supported to take their medicines, some records relating to the management of people’s medicines were not always accurate.

People had a genuine say in their own care and support planning. They were supported by a consistent staff team who knew their needs well, and supported them to retain their independence in order to remain living in their own homes. Staff recruitment processes ensured staff were safe to work with people.

We received positive feedback from both people who used the service and their relatives about the quality of the care and support they received.

There had been a recent change in manager since the last inspection. The manager was receptive to our feedback and provided reassurances that recommendations would be acted on, demonstrating the service's commitment to achieve positive outcomes for people.

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 (report published 8 January 2020).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about the management of medicines. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

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.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Delta Care on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.