Archived: DCS Fylde Limited

Updated 10 June 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection visit took place on 05 and 06 May 2016 and was announced.

The provider was given 24 hours' notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service we needed to be sure that someone would be available.

The inspection was carried out by the lead adult social care inspector for the service.

Before this inspection, we looked at all the information we held about this service. We reviewed notifications of incidents that the provider had sent us. We received feedback from social work professionals, a community nurse, a pharmacist, and a community occupational therapist. Their feedback is included within this report.

During our inspection we went to the DCS Fylde office and spoke with a range of people about the service. They included the registered manager, Business support manager, quality service leader, and nine care staff members. We also spoke to five people who used the service and the relatives of two people. This enabled us to determine if people received the care and support they needed and if any identified risks to people’s health and wellbeing were appropriately managed.

We also looked at a wide range of records. These included; four peoples care records, six staff personnel records, visit logs, a variety of policies and procedures, training records, medicines records and quality monitoring systems.

Updated 10 June 2016

This inspection took place on the 5 & 6 May 2016 and was announced.

We last inspected this service in May 2014. The service was judged to be compliant in all the areas we looked at.

DCS Fylde is a privately owned domiciliary agency. They are situated in Lytham St Anne's. The agency provides care staff to support people in their own homes. They provide assistance with tasks such as personal care, food preparation, medication administration and household chores. The service supports people around Lytham, Fylde, Freckleton and surrounding areas. Services are provided to older adults, adults with physical disabilities, adults with memory loss or dementia, adults with complex needs, adults with specific conditions such as strokes, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson's disease.

At the time of our inspection visit DCS Fylde provided services to 55 people.

The registered manager was given 24 hours’ notice prior to the inspection, so that we could be sure they would be available to provide us with the information we required.

The registered manager of the service was present throughout our inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission 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.

We looked at recruitment processes and found the service had recruitment policies and procedures in place to help ensure safety in the recruitment of staff. People told us the service was reliable.

Staff we spoke with told us they were given enough time with people, were given time for travelling and that visits to people did not overlap. People we spoke with told us that staff stayed for the allocated time.

We looked at assessments undertaken for four people before the agency agreed to provide their domiciliary care package and found that safety checks and risk assessments were undertaken. We found that care plans identified risk management in a person centred way.

We looked at how people were protected from bullying, harassment, avoidable harm and abuse. We found that the service followed safeguarding reporting systems, as outlined in its policies and procedures.

We found that the service promoted staff development and had an accredited in house training centre to ensure that staff received training appropriate to their roles and responsibilities. Staff told us they felt well supported by management and we saw evidence that regular supervisions were being held.

We looked at how the service gained people’s consent to care and treatment in line with the Mental Capacity Act [MCA]. We looked at people's care records and found mental capacity assessments, with supporting best interests decisions where required.

Care records held details of joint working with health and social care professionals involved with people, who accessed the service.

We received consistent positive feedback about the staff and about the care that people received. Staff received training to help ensure they understood how to respect people’s privacy, dignity and rights. People told us how their relatives were given time during care visits to develop relationships with care staff.

We found people's needs were being met in a person centred manner and reflected their personal preferences. The manager advised us that staff were always introduced to service users, prior to any support being provided. This helped to ensure people received their care from staff they were familiar with. There were clear assessment processes in place, which helped to ensure staff had a good understanding of people's needs before they started to support them. People’s care was delivered in a way that took account of their needs and the support they required to live independently at home.

Staff and people who used the service told us that the management team were approachable. We found the registered manager was familiar with people who used the service and their needs. When we discussed people's needs the manager showed good knowledge about the people in his care.

We looked at staff meeting minutes, they showed staff were involved in discussions about improving the service and management input was motivating to encourage the staff team to provide good standards of care and support.

The service had a complaints procedure which was made available to people they supported. People we spoke with told us they knew how to make a complaint if they had any concerns and the service had sent information on how to make a complaint to all people

The registered manager used a variety of methods to assess and monitor the quality of the service. These included satisfaction surveys, audits, spot check and care reviews. We found people were satisfied with the service they received. We found the registered manager receptive to feedback and keen to improve the service. They worked with us in a positive manner providing all the information we requested.