Dependable Care LLP

Updated 5 May 2021

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

One inspector and an Expert by Experience completed this inspection. 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 people living in their own homes. The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that 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

This inspection was unannounced.

Inspection activity started on 11 March 2021 and ended on 17 March 2021. We visited the office location on 15 March 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with eight people who used the service and eight relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with seven members of staff including the registered manager, assistant manager, care coordinators and care workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data, call times and quality assurance records.

Updated 5 May 2021

About the service

Dependable Care LLP is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. At the time of our visit, the agency supported 27 people.

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

The provider and registered manager had made changes since the last inspection which will need to be sustained overtime. People’s experiences of care had not always been consistent, the registered manager had recognised this and had taken steps to improve this.

People’s risk had been identified and recorded, however, some people had different experiences of care staff at weekends. People felt safe and received their medicines as needed. The overall management of preventing infection control was effective.

People’s needs were known and recorded, by staff who had been recruited safely, trained and supported in their role

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 27 April 2019) and there was a breach of regulation. 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. The service remains rated requires improvement. This service has been rated requires improvement for the last two consecutive inspections.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about staffing. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

We have found evidence the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the Safe and Well-Led sections of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Dependable Care LLP on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.