15 May 2023
During a routine inspection
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.