Background to this inspection
Updated
31 March 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
One inspector carried out the inspection.
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 there was a registered manager in post.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
What we did before the inspection
The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.
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.
During the inspection
We spoke with the 1 person who used the service and their relative. We also spoke with the registered manager and provider and 1 care staff member. We looked at the care records and risk assessment relating to the 1 person who used the service, medicines administration records and staff training certificates. We looked at staff recruitment files and systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of the service delivery.
Updated
31 March 2023
We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.
About the service
DuTee4u Home Healthcare provides personal care within people’s own houses and flats. At the time of our inspection 1 person was using the service.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
At the time of the inspection, the location did not care or support anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.
The service was not able to demonstrate how they were meeting underpinning principles of 'Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture.'
Right support: Staff did not support people with their medicines in a safe way to achieve the best possible health outcomes.
Right care: Staff lacked understanding about how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service did not work well with other agencies.
Right culture: People did not lead inclusive and empowered lives because of the ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of the management and staff. People did not receive good quality care, support and treatment because staff were not skilled or knowledgeable to meet the person’s needs safely.
For more information, please read the detailed findings section of this report. If you are reading this as a separate summary, the full report can be found on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was inadequate (published 6 June 2022).
At our last inspection we found breaches of the regulations in relation to 9, Person-centred care, 12, Safe care and treatment, 13, Safeguarding service users from abuse and improper treatment, 16, Receiving and acting on complaints, 17, Good governance and 18, Staffing of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. The provider was also in breach of regulation 18 Notification of incidents of the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009.
We told the provider what action they needed to take to ensure the safety of people who used the service. Due to the concerns identified at the inspection the local authority withdrew all, but 1 packages of care. At this inspection, we found the provider remained in breach of regulations.
This service has been in Special Measures since March 2022. During this inspection the provider demonstrated that improvements had not been made. The service remained inadequate and continues to be in special measures.
Why we inspected
This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-Led sections of this full report.
The overall rating for this service is 'Inadequate’ and the service remains in ‘special measures’. This means we will keep the service under review and, if we do not propose to cancel the provider’s registration, we will re-inspect within 6 months to check for significant improvements.
If the provider has not made enough improvement within this timeframe and there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall rating, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures. This will mean we will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service. This will usually lead to cancellation of their registration or to varying the conditions of the registration.
For adult social care services, the maximum time for being in special measures will usually be no more than 12 months. If the service has demonstrated improvements when we inspect it and it is no longer rated as inadequate for any of the five key questions it will no longer be in special measures.
You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for DuTee4u Home Healthcare Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.