CQC Report: Dynasty Brighton Branch (Domiciliary Care), April 2025
The assessment took place from 27 January 2025 to 11 February 2025.
It was undertaken in response to concerns about the service and because it had not received a rating yet.
Dynasty Brighton Branch is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people living in their own homes. People’s needs varied greatly; they were supporting some people with a mild learning disability however were not a specialised service in this area.
At the time of assessment, the service was providing personal care to 25 people. CQC announced the site visit to the provider 48 hours’ beforehand; this was because they needed to be sure the provider would be available to support this inspection. During this assessment, CQC found two breaches of the legal regulations in relation to staffing and governance. Staffing levels were not robust or consistent, which impacted on the reliability of care calls. It was reported that staff were quite regularly late to calls without any explanation. Staff did not receive robust supervision to discuss their concerns, and the documentation of training was not up to date. Governance systems were not always effective. The quality of the service was not effectively assessed and monitored. The leadership and management of the service was not always available or effective. We met with the provider to address these concerns and have asked them for an action plan in response to the issues found at this assessment.
Care plans were person-centred and contained detailed of people’s needs and wishes. Risks had been assessed and there was clear guidance for staff to follow to support people be safe and as independent as possible.
People's experience of the service
Much of the feedback from people using the service and their relatives was in relation to the unreliability of care calls. Almost everyone spoken with reported that care staff had been late before with no explanation. This was conveyed to the provider who was taking action to improve this. People told the CQC that staff were caring and treated their homes with respect, however, some people expressed that care calls felt rushed and were not always in line with their preferences. People spoke of frustration when contacting the office or provider to raise concerns.
One person told CQC, “I have telephone numbers, but they hardly ever answer the phone. All numbers either ring out or are disconnected. If I leave a message, no one responds.”
People and their relatives said that they would report any concerns to the staff member in their home, but did not feel that management were regularly available to respond to these.
The latest rating for this service is "Requires Improvement".