Dennyson Care Limited

Updated 20 July 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 carried out by 2 inspectors and 2 Experts by Experience. 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

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to older 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.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 15 May 2023 and ended on 22 May 2023. We visited the location's office on 15 May 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We used information gathered as part of monitoring activity that took place 10 March 2023 to help plan the inspection and inform our judgements. We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. 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 spent one day in the office location reviewing documentation and discussing this with the registered manager, 1 care coordinator and the quality manager, who is the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We reviewed 8 people's care records and medicine records, 12 staff files, policies relating to the running of the service and governance records. After the site visit we spoke with 4 people using the service and 2 relatives about their experiences of the care provided and 5 care workers.

Updated 20 July 2023

About the service:

Dennyson Care limited is a domiciliary care agency based in the London Borough of Redbridge. The service provides personal care to adults living in their own homes. 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 our inspection, the service was providing personal care to approximately 82 people.

CQC only inspects where people receive personal care.

People's experience of using this service and what we found:

While the provider had sent us some notifications, they had not always sent us all relevant notifications in a timely manner, as they are required to do.

The registered manager did not have a programme to regularly assess care worker’s competency to manage medicines. There was therefore a risk that people might not always be protected against the risks associated with medicines. The provider did not always monitor care calls in real time to ensure people always receive their calls at the time planned and agreed with them.

The provider’s quality assurance systems had not identified the above shortfalls so the necessary improvements could be made.

There were processes in place to safeguard people from abuse and guidance for staff to follow to keep people safe from harm. Risk assessments were completed and reviewed. Staff wore appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) such as face masks and disposable gloves and aprons to protect people from the risk of cross infection.

People's care needs were assessed and reviewed. Staff completed training to know how to care for people effectively. Staff told us they were supported by the registered manager to perform in their roles. There was a procedure for reporting incidents and accidents in the service and learning lessons from them to prevent re-occurrence. 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 and relatives told us staff were kind and caring. They praised the caring and inclusive nature of the service. People's privacy, dignity and independence were respected and promoted. People and relatives were actively involved in their care planning and delivery.

People received care that was responsive to their needs and preferences. People's communication needs were assessed and met.

People achieved good outcomes from their care. People, relatives, and staff all spoke highly of the support they received from the management team. The registered manager and nominated individual maintained oversight of people's care. The management team also took on caring roles, this ensured they built and maintained a close relationship with people and their relatives.

The provider promoted a positive culture and person-centred service. Feedback from people and relatives was received. There were quality assurance systems in place for the provider to continuously improve the service.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 7 June 2019).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified a breach of regulation in relation to good governance.

We have made recommendations for the provider to improve the way they assessed staff competency to support people with their medicines and around effective systems to monitor care calls.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from 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 continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.