Dependability Limited

Updated 7 April 2020

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 undertook this inspection over three days.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

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

What we did before the inspection

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. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.

During the inspection

We met the registered manager at the office location on 6 and 7 February 2019 where we spoke with the occupational therapy manager and the occupational therapist and two care workers. We looked at the care records for three people, and three staff recruitment, training and support records. We also reviewed records of safeguarding adults, complaints, incidents, accidents and quality monitoring. On 12 February 2019 we telephoned and attempted to speak with 16 people or relatives who used the service. We were successful in speaking with three people and six relatives. We also received seven written feedback forms from relatives of people who used the service.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.

Updated 7 April 2020

About the service

Dependability Limited is an agency providing personal care to people who lived in their own homes in the community. The agency also provided occupational therapy services to people living in the community. CQC does not regulate or inspect this aspect of the service. At the time of the inspection, 20 people were being supported with personal care. Most people were older adults, although some people were under the age of 65 years and had physical disabilities.

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

The registered manager had updated their systems to help ensure they had an oversight of staff practice and undertook spot checks. They checked how staff administered medicines and addressed any concerns with them.

The registered manager and the occupational therapy manager met people to assess their support needs prior to offering a service. They assessed the risks to people and put measures in place to mitigate the risk of harm.

People and relatives’ comments were mostly positive about the care workers. They told us care workers usually arrived on time and care was usually undertaken as they wanted it to be done.

Staff were provided with training to support them to undertake their role.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

The registered manager and occupational therapy manager were well informed about health and social care provision. They supported the care workers to access appropriate health and social care on people’s behalf for their well-being.

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 undertaken on the 12 February 2019 (published on 08 March 2019). At that inspection we found two breaches of the regulations in relation to safe care and treatment and good governance.

The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do by 30 April 2019 to improve.

At this inspection they were no longer in breach of Regulation 12 safe care and treatment and Regulation 17 good governance. This was because there had been improvements in the management and administration of medicines and risk. There were improvements in auditing and oversight. However, the registered manager had not always sent notifiable incidents to the CQC which is a legal requirement and there were still some measures which could be taken to make the recruitment process more robust. This had meant well-led was still requires improvement. Safe, effective, caring and responsive were good and good overall.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm

Please see the sections of this full report.

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 return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.