DMC Signature Care Ltd

Updated 21 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

The inspection was completed by 1 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 there was a registered manager in post who is also the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

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.

Inspection activity started on 1 February 2023 and ended on 9 February 2023. We visited the location’s office on 7 February 2023

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 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 gained feedback from 1 relative about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 5 members of staff including the registered manager, general manager, HR manager and care workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 3 people’s care records. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 21 February 2023

About the service

DMC Signature Care Ltd is a domiciliary care agency. They provide personal care to people living in their own homes. The service is registered to support older people, younger people and children. 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 the inspection 3 children were receiving personal care.

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.

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

Right Support:

People were supported by staff who knew them well, had received sufficient training and who had been safely recruited.

Enough staff were deployed to meet people’s individual needs. Staff arrived on time and stayed the allocated amount of time to meet people’s needs.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Right Care:

Risks to people had been assessed and mitigating strategies implemented. Staff received training on people’s individual needs. People were protected from avoidable harm and staff understood how to protect people from abuse.

Infection control procedures were in place and staff wore appropriate personal protective equipment to keep people safe and reduce the risks from infections.

Staff were kind and caring towards the people they supported and engaged well with their relatives. Information was shared and lessons learnt.

Right Culture:

The registered manager had systems and processes in place to maintain effective oversight of the service. Staff received regular meetings and supervisions to share information and discuss any concerns.

Staff felt supported at work and the provider had a clear vision and expectation of good quality care. We received positive feedback on the management of the service and the attitudes of staff.

Managers and staff were open and honest with others. When something went wrong the provider had a system in place to share the information and make improvements. Action plans were put into place if any issues occurred.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was Inadequate (published 05 October 2021) and there were 4 breaches of regulation.

We then completed a targeted inspection but did not rate the service (published 13 October 2022). The provider was no longer in breach of 2 regulations.

At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of the 2 other regulations.

This service has been in Special Measures since 10 October 2021. During this inspection the provider demonstrated that improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer 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. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.

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

The overall rating for the service has changed from inspected not rated to good based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for DMC Signature Care Ltd 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.