Dynamic Social Support

Updated 19 April 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection team consisted of one inspector and an Expert 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. Their area of expertise was domiciliary care.

Service and service type:

Dynamic Social Support is a domiciliary care agency and provides personal care to people living in their own homes. Not everyone using the service received the regulated activity; the CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also take into account any wider social care provided.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). This means they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection:

Our inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small, and the registered manager was often out of the office. Inspection site visit activity started on 1 April 2019 and ended on 2 April 2019. We visited the office location on 1 April 2019 to see the registered manager; and to review care records and policies and procedures.

What we did:

Before the inspection, we reviewed the information, we held about the service, including statutory notifications. Notifications are used to inform CQC about certain changes, events or incidents that occur. We requested feedback from stakeholders. These included the local authority safeguarding and commissioning teams and Healthwatch England. Healthwatch England is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. The provider had completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). The PIR is a form providers are required to send us which contains 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 our inspection, we spoke with the registered manager and three staff members. We spoke with two people who used the service and nine relatives. We reviewed documents and records that related to the management of the service. We looked at three people’s care plans, a range of policies, procedures and guidance used by staff in their role and quality assurance audits. We reviewed three staff member files and records associated with the management and administration of people’s medicines.

Updated 19 April 2019

About the service: Dynamic Social Support is registered as a domiciliary care agency providing the regulated activity ‘personal care’ to the people who live in their own homes. At the time of our inspection, the service was providing personal care to 25 people.

People’s experience of using this service:

People and relatives told us they felt safe with staff. People were supported safely and protected from harm. There were systems in place to reduce the risk of abuse and to assess and monitor potential risks to individuals. The management of medicines was safe, staff had completed training and audits were completed. The registered manager was in the process of reviewing people’s medicines records. Staff followed infection prevention and control guidance when supporting people. The registered manager had a system in place to learn lessons, through accident, incident, safeguarding and complaints, when needed.

There were enough skilled and experienced staff to meet people’s needs. An induction was completed by new staff. Staff received appropriate training and support to enable them to perform their roles effectively. Recruitment processes were robust.

Staff involved healthcare professionals to support people's health needs where required. People received support, with eating and drinking, when needed. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Staff gained people's consent before providing support.

People and relatives said staff were kind and caring. Staff had a genuine motivation to deliver support in a person-centred way and described how individual people preferred their support delivered. Staff told us about the importance of treating people with dignity and respect. Initial assessments were carried out to ensure people’s needs could be met. Support plans showed people and family members were involved in their support and they contained appropriate detail for staff to provide effective care and support.

People, relatives and staff had the opportunity to provide feedback about the service. Information was provided so people knew who to speak with if they had concerns. There was a system in place to respond to any complaints. The registered manager worked in partnership with other professionals to support people’s quality of life, when needed. Effective systems were in place to monitor the quality of service and action was taken where areas for improvement had been found.

The registered manager was in the process of reviewing and their recording processes immediately strengthening some areas of their recording keeping.

Rating at last inspection: The service was registered in April 2018, and this was the services first inspection.

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on when the service was registered with the Care Quality Commission.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor the service through information we receive. Further inspections will be planned for future dates as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.

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