Disablement Association of Barking and Dagenham Also known as DABD (uk)

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

The service was well-led. Systems were in place for quality assurance and monitoring processes, although not all of these were fully embedded at the time of inspection. Staff and people who used the service had the freedom to speak up and the provider had regard for equality and diversity as an employer and care provider. There were plans in place for dealing with emergencies and developing the service in the future.

This service scored 71 (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 told us of their willingness to work together with people to create services for people. They told us how they shared ideas with people, listened to what people were telling them and made clear to everyone that people could approach them with concerns or ideas on how to improve at any time.

The provider had a ‘Service Development Plan’ which set out their priorities over the next three years. This included working with partner agencies and people who used the service to help ensure there was a shared direction and culture. The most recent staff survey showed that most staff understood the culture and direction of the service. The provider told us they planned to have a staff conference in November 2024 which would help communicate the shared direction and culture of the service. They added the conference would include a ‘’you said, we heard, we did" session in response to the staff survey.

As an organisation the Manager’s told us how they brought people together to share views on how aspects of the service operated. They told us how they were open to talking with staff about what goes wrong and how they will get it right next time. Staff told us how their Managers were approachable and how staff had been made welcome to talk to them whenever they needed any support.

The Manager’s told us about the opportunities they created for staff to be open and talk about the things that are of concern to them. They told us of their ‘open door’ message to their staff and how they were happy to chat with any staff member at any time.

Managers told us about the systems in place for people to be able to speak up. They told us of the systems open to staff to use in order to voice concerns. They also told us about their attitude to welcoming complaints in order to improve and about the timescale for investigating them.

People and their relatives were provided with a Service User Guide which included contact information details for staff working at the service, should they wish to contact them for any reason. The provider had a complaints procedure which included timescales for responding to complaints and contact details of who people could complain to if they were not satisfied with the response from the provider. The provider told us they had not received any complaints in the last 6 months. The provider also had a whistleblowing policy. This made clear that staff had the legal right to whistle blow to external organisations if necessary. The results of the recent staff survey showed that most staff felt their direct manager valued their opinion.

The Manager told us about the methods they used in order to recruit a workforce that reflected society. The provider told us it was their aim to work with equality groups to ensure that their services were accessible to all. They added how they would support staff to ensure that any potential barriers were overcome.

The provider told us how they kept much of their recruitment local and how some of their workforce were employed through local networks and people who were directly referred to them. In an attempt to recruit widely, the provider told us how they worked with local job centres, advertise in shop windows and create newsletters to recruit staff.

The provider showed us their audit tool for their plans that had recently been introduced. This was a new system introduced and required time to be embedded to ensure its effectiveness.

The provider had a quality assurance policy which helped to provide a framework for the quality assurance systems used. Staff completed daily records of care given to people, including about activities, continence, eating and drinking. This helped the provider to continuously review the support given. The provider had a ‘Business Continuity Plan’. This set out the actions to be taken in the event of an emergency, such as staff absences and breakdowns with IT systems. The recent staff survey showed that most staff felt they knew who they could turn to and would feel supported if something unexpected happened.

The provider told us that they mainly worked with families and other professionals such as Social Worker’s and Commissioners, a working relationship built over many years that benefits many people with disabilities in the local community.

The Manager told us how they worked with professionals such as Social Worker’s through the referral and assessment process. This partnership working continues throughout the time the provider offers support to the person in order to monitor and share information important to the people who were receiving care.

We heard how the provider was continually learning about people they supported. They emphasised the importance of feedback they received as well as looking at the lessons they had learnt when things went wrong. They told us of their intentions to implement a care planning system which they believe will be an improvement on their current system and their desire to continue to see staff grow and develop to take on new challenges.

Although the provider told us there had not been any accidents or incidents in the past 6 months, they had a policy about this to provide guidance to staff. This stated that all accidents and incidents should be analysed and review to identify their causes to help prevent similar accidents and incidents re-occurring. The local authority reported that care plans and risk assessment were reviewed monthly to help ensured they continued to reflect people’s needs as they changed over time.