Derbyshire Care Services HQ

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.

At our last assessment we rated this key question requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to good. This meant the service was consistently managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality, person-centred care.

This service scored 75 (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.

The provider’s statement of purpose had clear aims to provide the highest quality of care based on promoting people’s human rights. This had contributed to people experiencing positive outcomes from the care they received.

Leaders were passionate and committed to providing personalised and high-quality care and to creating a supportive environment for their staff. Leaders had held a recent ‘Awards evening’ with people and staff attending. Staff had been nominated for ‘Lifetime service’ and ‘Director’s Choice’ awards. Care staff and people using the service made a video for the evening where they all spoke about the positive impact having care from, or working for, Derbyshire Care Services HQ meant to them. The Awards evening also launched a charity foundation the provider was in the process of developing with the aims of supporting other local third sector care partners.

Staff were positive about the provider’s values. One staff member told us, “The company is really good and has really good policies.”

The provider had inclusive leaders at all levels who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. They did so with integrity, openness and honesty.

Leaders we spoke with were committed to staff development, training and well-being. Leaders were clear on what job roles were needed in the organisation for it to work effectively and what skills were needed in these roles. Leaders worked openly and transparently and were happy to meet with staff to resolve any issues in-between any regular support meetings.

Staff were positive about the support they received. For example, one staff member told us, “I enjoy working for the company and I love assisting and caring for people. I think it is well run and well managed. They communicate very well, and we have a group chat.” Another staff member told us, “I love my job that’s why I have been there so long.”

The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard.

Staff had access to the provider’s whistleblowing policy that explained how they could raise any concerns. Staff consistently told us they felt confident that if they did need to raise any concerns they would be listened to, treated fairly and have their concern investigated by leaders.

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 told us they felt treated fairly and felt their contributions were valued. Leaders told us they worked to accommodate the different needs of their staff teams and supported staff who needed to work flexible hours.

Some improvements were required to ensure clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. Whilst systems were in place to manage and deliver good quality, sustainable care, treatment and support these had not always been effective. The systems were designed to help the provider act on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, and they shared this securely with others when appropriate.

There were systems in place to ensure an oversight of key events in the service and to check on the quality and safety of people’s care. This enabled leaders to review events and identify any trends and identify actions to take to work towards implementing any further improvements. On the whole, these were operated effectively however, we found some improvements were required to ensure notifications were submitted to CQC for all relevant events. Audits of medicines needed further guidance to ensure they checked what was required. Leaders took action to make these necessary changes to their systems during the inspection and told us they would continue to monitor to ensure their effectiveness and to ensure the required improvements would be sustained.

The provider understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services worked seamlessly for people. They shared information and learning with partners and collaborated for improvement.

Health and social care professionals told us Derbyshire Care Services HQ worked collaboratively with them to help achieve good outcomes for people. One healthcare partner told us about successful joint working following an incident to help reduce risks recurring and all partners told us they found leaders responsive.

The provider focused on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people.

Leaders reviewed events, identified trends and implemented any learning actions to contribute towards continuous improvements. They understood the importance of involving people and staff in any developments in the service to increase the chances of improvements being successful.