Archived: Chesterfield (DCC Home Care Service)

Updated 3 April 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection was carried out by an adult social care inspector. Another inspector and an expert by experience made calls to people using the service, relatives and staff. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type:

Chesterfield (DCC Home Care) is a domiciliary care service which provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. This includes older people, people living with dementia and people requiring short term support on discharge from hospital.

The service also provides personal care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care service.

There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (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.

Notice of inspection:

To make sure key staff were available to assist in the inspection the provider was given short notice of the inspection. The inspection started on 27 February 2019 with a visit to the service’s office and to people living in extra care housing. It ended on 14 March 2019, following calls to people using the service, relatives and staff.

What we did:

We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

Prior to the inspection visit we gathered information from many sources. We looked at the information received about the service from notifications sent to the Care Quality Commission by the registered manager. We also contacted professionals who worked with the service to support people, as well as Healthwatch (Derbyshire). Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.

On the day of our site visit we spoke with the registered manager and 10 senior staff who were based there. We looked at care records relating to three people who used the service, the medication system, staff training records and information relating to the management of the service. This included, records of accidents, incidents and complaints, audits and quality assurance reports. We also visited three people in their homes to obtain their views about the care they received and to look at their care records.

Over the following two weeks we spoke with seven people who used the service, seven relatives and 12 care workers, to gain their views of the service.

After inspection:

To help us get a clearer picture of the way the service was operating we considered additional information provided by the management team about the quality monitoring system at the service and staff training.

Updated 3 April 2019

About the service:

Chesterfield (DCC Home Care) is a domiciliary care service which provides personal care to people living in and around the Chesterfield area. This can be either on a long-term basis or as a short term reablement package, which is designed to assist people regaining independence after a hospital stay, injury or illness. There were 303 people receiving personal care at the time of our inspection.

People’s experience of using this service:

People told us they felt safe with the staff who supported them. Staff had undertaken safeguarding training which was periodically refreshed. They understood their role and responsibility to keep people safe from harm. Care records contained guidance for staff about how to support people safely and minimise risks to people.

Recruitment processes helped the employer make safer decisions when employing new staff. Staff had completed a structured induction and had access to ongoing training and support, to help develop their knowledge and skills. However, not all staff had completed refresher training in a timely manner. Regular support sessions and staff meetings had also taken place.

Medication was administered or prompted by staff who had been trained to carry out this role and whose competency was periodically checked.

There were enough staff employed to ensure people received consistent and timely care. People told us staff usually arrived within the agreed times and did what was expected of them.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Staff understood the importance of gaining people’s consent and acting in their best interest.

People were happy with the support they received from staff regarding meal preparation. Staff were aware of people's dietary requirements. Where people were at risk staff monitored their food and fluid intake and shared information with relevant healthcare professionals.

People were very happy with the quality of the care the service provided and how it was run. They told us care workers met their needs and supported them to meet their aims and objectives. People told us their privacy and dignity was always respected and staff were competent in their work, caring, friendly and helpful.

People spoke highly of the staff who provided care and support, as well as the staff based in the office. Staff had built positive relationships with the people they supported. Staff supported people to retain or improve their independence. People were actively involved in planning and reviewing their care. This helped to ensure care was provided in accordance with their wishes.

People were enabled to raise complaints and concerns. People we spoke with said they would feel comfortable raising concerns, if they had any. When concerns had been raised the correct procedure had been used to record, investigate and resolve issues.

There were systems in place to continuously assess and monitor the quality of the service. This included obtaining people’s views and checking staff were following the correct procedures.

Staff provided positive feedback about how the service was run. They told us they enjoyed their jobs and they worked very well together as a team.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Rating at last inspection: Good (report published 19 May 2016).

Why we inspected: This was a planned comprehensive inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.