De Vere Care Partnership – Chelmsford is a domiciliary care agency providing care and support to people living in their own homes. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. 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 assessment the service supported 195 people with personal care. We reviewed 12 quality statements; Safeguarding; Involving people to manage risks; Safe and effective staffing; Medicines optimisation; Consent to care and treatment; Assessing needs; How staff, teams and services work together; Independence, choice and control; Workforce wellbeing and enablement; Compassionate and inclusive leaders; Freedom to speak up; Governance, management and sustainability. We found two breaches of the legal regulations in relation to safe and effective staffing and governance. The provider’s oversight of call monitoring did not consistently demonstrate there were enough suitably qualified staff to meet people’s needs. Governance systems and audits were not effective in identifying or addressing areas for improvement. We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.
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De Vere Care Partnership – Chelmsford is a domiciliary care agency rated Good overall following a focused inspection of the Safe and Well-led key questions, triggered by concerns about staff skills and experience. No evidence of harm was found; the service demonstrated robust medicines management, safe recruitment, effective governance, and a positive person-centred culture.
Strengths
· No missed care calls reported; stable staffing team with regular workers assigned to people
· Robust medicines management with competency assessments and quarterly monitoring of staff practice
· Effective safeguarding systems with clear staff understanding of reporting responsibilities
· Strong governance and audit systems enabling effective oversight of the service
· Open and inclusive management culture with positive feedback from people, relatives, staff and external professionals
De Vere Care Partnership – Chelmsford received a Good rating across all five key questions at this first inspection of a domiciliary care agency supporting nine people. Minor recommendations were made about including protected characteristics and gender preferences in assessments, and recording end of life wishes.
Concerns (4)
minorCare planning: “people's protected characteristics such as their ethnicity, culture, gender, sexual orientation was not discussed with them during the assessment stage or ongoing monitoring”
minorCultural competency: “People's preferences for the gender of the staff member were not always discussed during the assessment and care planning.”
minorEnd-of-life care: “People's end of life wishes, and arrangements were not discussed or recorded in their care plan.”
minorRecord keeping: “We found some gaps in people's employment history and made the registered manager aware of this.”
Strengths
· Safe medicines administration with regular audits and staff competency checks
· Effective infection prevention and control including COVID-19 management
· Person-centred care planning that is regularly reviewed
· Warm, kind and considerate staff who treat people with dignity and respect
· Strong staff training, induction and supervision including Care Certificate standards
Quality-Statement breakdown (23)
safe: Systems and processes to safeguard people from the risk of abuseGood
safe: Assessing risk, safety monitoring and managementGood
safe: Staffing and recruitmentGood
safe: Using medicines safelyGood
safe: Preventing and controlling infectionGood
safe: Learning lessons when things go wrongGood
effective: Assessing people's needs and choices; delivering care in line with standards, guidance and the lawGood
effective: Staff support: induction, training, skills and experienceGood
effective: Supporting people to eat and drink enough to maintain a balanced dietGood
effective: Staff working with other agencies to provide consistent, effective, timely careGood
effective: Ensuring consent to care and treatment in line with law and guidanceGood
caring: Ensuring people are well treated and supported; respecting equality and diversityGood
caring: Supporting people to express their views and be involved in making decisions about their careGood
caring: Respecting and promoting people's privacy, dignity and independenceGood
responsive: Planning personalised care to ensure people have choice and control and to meet their needs and preferencesGood
responsive: Meeting people's communication needsGood
responsive: Supporting people to develop and maintain relationships to avoid social isolationGood
responsive: Improving care quality in response to complaints or concernsGood
responsive: End of life care and supportGood
well-led: Promoting a positive culture that is person-centred, open, inclusive and empoweringGood
well-led: How the provider understands and acts on the duty of candourGood
well-led: Managers and staff being clear about their roles, and understanding quality performance, risks and regulatory requirementsGood
well-led: Engaging and involving people using the service, the public and staff; continuous learning and improving care; working in partnership with othersGood