Archived: Dohatech Healthservice

Dohatech Healthservice is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own home. At the time of our inspection there were 28 people receiving personal care from the service.

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.

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

Following the last inspection, the provider had taken action to address the breaches of regulation and improve the service.

People felt safe receiving care from staff. The provider had taken action to keep people safe and manage the risks they faced.

Staff had a good understanding of the support people needed. Staff supported people to do as much for themselves as possible and maintain their independence.

People were supported to take medicines safely and staff sought advice from health and social care services when necessary.

Staff received regular training and support. People and visiting professionals told us staff had the skills and knowledge to meet their needs. People were supported to access the health services they needed.

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.

People had been supported to develop clear care plans, which set out how their individual needs should be met. The plans were specific to people and contained detailed information for staff. People knew how to make a complaint and were confident any issues they raised would be responded to.

The provider had established good systems to monitor the quality of service provided and make improvements where needed. The registered manager worked with people, staff and other professionals to ensure people achieved good outcomes.

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 requires improvement (published 5 January 2022). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out a comprehensive inspection of this service on 3 December 2021. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve safe care and treatment, person-centred care, consent, staffing, fit and proper persons employed and good governance.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Effective, Responsive and Well-led which contain those requirements. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement 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 Dohatech Healthservice 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.

Dohatech Healthservice is a domiciliary care service, providing personal care to people living in and around Amesbury and Romsey.

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. One the day of inspection, 15 people were receiving the regulated activity of personal care.

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

Staff had not always been recruited safely into the service. Recruitment files were missing information to show the service had sought assurances staff were suitable to work with people who might be vulnerable as a result of their circumstances.

People told us they felt safe. However, the service had failed to thoroughly assess people for risks that would put them at harm. Some risks that had been identified did not have clear instructions for staff on how to support people with that risk. This placed people at risk of not having safe care and treatment.

Medicines were not always managed safely. The service could not provide assurances that people were always given their medicines as prescribed. Medicine audits were not regularly carried out.

Staff had not all been provided with core training. This put people at risk of receiving unsafe or ineffective care and treatment. People were not supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service did not support this practice. Staff told us they felt supported. However, formal supervisions were not taking place and interactions with staff where support was offered were often not recorded.

Quality audits had not been effective in identifying shortfalls in the service. The registered manager and provider had not completed enough audits to identify where improvements were needed. We found multiple breaches of Regulations.

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

Rating at last inspection - This service was registered with us on 10/07/2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the Safe, Effective, Responsive and Well-led sections of this full report.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service.

Follow up

We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.