Dynasty Brighton Branch (Domiciliary Care)

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture. This is the first assessment for this newly registered service. This key question has been rated requires improvement. This meant the management and leadership was inconsistent. Leaders and the culture they created did not always support the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care. The service was in breach of legal regulation in relation to governance at the service.

This service scored 46 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider did have a shared vision and strategy, however, the values were not always being upheld. Staff received spot checks, however, were not regularly given the opportunity to openly express concerns which they may have regarding the shaping and improvement of the service. Some staff did not feel supported. These concerns had affected morale and effectiveness of staff in providing effective care to people using the service. We received mixed feedback from people regarding the culture at the service. Some people told us that staff appeared happy and positive in their work. Other people reported that staff morale was low and they struggled to contact management to discuss any issues. They did not feel that there was an open culture at the service where concerns would be proactively and efficiently addressed.

The provider was not always visible at the service, and leaders did not always lead effectively , with integrity, openness and honesty. We received mixed feedback from staff regarding the leadership of the service. Some staff told us the managers were available when needed; however, others reported that they did not feel listened to and were not confident in the leadership. Team meetings did take place, however the effectiveness of these was lacking. For example, we saw from minutes that the issues with call logging had been discussed, yet errors were still occurring. The meetings were often done via a virtual method and feedback suggested that staff were not encouraged to fully engage with listening to these. Almost all the people we received feedback from spoke of difficulties in contacting the office or provider to discuss concerns. One person told us, “Honestly, they need to improve. I’ve had to contact the office about care staff not coming, they don’t let me know or come back to me.” Another added, “I never hear from them, I wouldn’t know who is in charge.”

People did not always feel they could speak up and that their voice would be heard. The provider had a policy in place to support people and staff to speak up, however, knowledge of these were lacking. Some staff members were not aware of a whistle-blowing policy or what this meant. Staff told us that they did not always feel listened to and did not feel their voices were heard in relation to driving improvement at the service. Both people and staff reported that gaining a line of communication with the registered manager could be challenging.

The provider did value diversity in their workforce and spoke with positivity about the mix of staff they had working at Dynasty Brighton Branch. However, some of the feedback demonstrated that the provider did not always work towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them. Staff had undertaken training in Equality and Diversity.

The provider’s governance processes were not effective. They did not always act on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes. Quality assurance processes were in place however these were not robust and had not highlighted or addressed the issues found during the assessment. Record keeping and auditing in relation to care calls needed to be improved to ensure clear oversight of care provision. For example, we found two months of audits contained the exact same information with regards to call monitoring, this did not match the call logs available. This error was address by the provider following feedback. Furthermore, there was evidence that staff were not always using the call monitoring system correctly to log in and out of care calls. For example, the call log showed missed calls, however when this was compared to daily notes, it was evident that staff had attended the person. Oversight of care provision was lacking.

The provider understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services worked seamlessly for people. They shared information with partners however some external professionals told us it was difficult to get hold of the provider at times. Appropriate referrals to ensure people got the support they required had been made, for example, to request a review of a care package by the social work teams. However, some professionals told us that communication was sporadic, and this made consistent partnership working difficult.

The provider did not always focus on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They did not always encourage creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. They did not always actively contribute to safe, effective practice and research. The service was experiencing a shortage of staff and this meant that management were at times needing to cover care calls to ensure people were safe. There was a lack of meaningful lessons learnt following incidents, and these were not robustly monitored for patterns and trends, which could in turn drive improvements. Since the inspection, the provider has formulated an action plan to start driving improvements at the service.