Date of Inspection:03 December 2025. Darethealthcare Ltd is a domiciliary care agency and provides personal care to people living in their own homes, some of whom lived with conditions that affected their health and dementia. Not everyone who used the service received personal care and CQC only inspects where people are receiving the regulated activity of personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. At the time of the inspection five people were receiving a regulated activity. There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. The service had a manager who managed the service and the staff with the Registered Manager. Staff treated people with respect and dignity and requested consent before giving care. Care provided was person centred and staff knew people very well. People were supported with kindness and compassion and to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests. Staff had been trained annually in different aspects of care; People were assessed when joining the service and this was periodically reviewed or updated when changes had occurred. The staff and managers had a shared direction and culture of care and compassion. Care plans were person centred and contained information including people’s life histories and risk assessments and gave staff guidance on how to support people and provide safe care. The provider ensured there were enough staff on duty to meet the needs of people and where possible had engaged with the local authority to tailor attendance times to ensure people received care when they needed it. Some staff were not clear on what a safeguarding incident was and so we were not assured they would identify and report matters of concern. At the time of the inspection staff were not trained and assessed as competent in providing specialist tasks such as catheter care and there was no delegated healthcare professional supporting care staff providing clinical oversight of care. The service was not always well led. The provider did not provide all audits of documents and provision of care that was documented in their policies and some of the audits that were provided were not detailed. Although we found no evidence of harm the provider had not ensured that staff had received sufficient training for specialist tasks to ensure that people were cared for inline with best practice. We raised this with the provider and they provided training and has obtained the support of a healthcare provider in order to keep people safe There was a lack of robust monitoring systems of risk and quality of care.
PDF cached but not yet analysed by Claude; set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY and re-run npm run etl:reports -- --location 1-145039801.
Darethealthcare UK Limited showed significant improvement since a March 2016 inspection that identified multiple regulatory breaches, with most issues remediated including medicines management, risk assessments, recruitment, training and supervision. However, ratings of Requires Improvement were retained for Safe and Well-Led domains pending sustained evidence of consistent MAR completion accuracy and embedded audit recording practices.
Concerns (3)
moderateMedication management: “the level of support people received had not always been accurately recorded... more time was required to demonstrate consistency in this improved practice”
moderateGovernance: “the provider had not always clearly recorded the issue identified by their audits... it was difficult for the provider to monitor progress with the issues that required resolving”
minorRecord keeping: “the findings in relation to audits were recorded amongst other daily monitoring checks”
Strengths
· Medicines were safely managed with complete prescribed medicines lists and risk assessments in place following previous breach
· Risk assessments were reviewed and updated regularly, with appropriate mitigation plans
· Safe recruitment protocols implemented with full employment history, DBS checks and references
· Staff received regular supervision twice yearly and were up to date with mandatory training
· Care plans were person-centred, regularly reviewed and reflected people's preferences and wishes
Darethealthcare UK Limited was rated Requires Improvement overall following an inspection on 18 March 2016, with Safe rated Inadequate due to critical breaches in medicines management, risk assessment, and staff recruitment under Regulations 12, 17, 18 and 19. Enforcement conditions were imposed for unsafe care and poor governance, and a Warning Notice issued for inadequate staffing support, though caring practice was rated Good with positive feedback from people using the service.
Concerns (8)
criticalMedication management: “one medication administration record (MAR) for August 2015 did not include the name or dosage of medicines...gaps on the record for six days where staff had not signed”
criticalCare planning: “risk assessments were not always dated and it was not always evident they had been reviewed...support plan was last reviewed in October 2014”
criticalGovernance: “the most recent check on people's care plans in February 2016 had failed to identify issues we found at the inspection...audit process was ineffective”
criticalStaff competency: “application forms did not always include a full work history...Photo identification had not always been checked or copies taken. Two of five staff files...did not contain any photo identification”
moderateStaff training: “three staff members had not had first aid training since 2012...Twelve of the 37 staff members had not received any manual handling training in the past year”
moderateSupervision / appraisal: “Staff did not receive one to one supervision to support them in their duties...supervision did not always take place regularly in line with the provider's requirements”
moderateRecord keeping: “training and supervision schedule we looked at had four staff members missing from the records...Complete and accurate records relating to each service user were not always maintained”
minorPerson-centred care: “One person's support plan did not detail what support was required at each visit. The support plan was task focused and not person centred.”
Strengths
· People said they felt safe and staff treated them well, with positive feedback including 'They are very thorough and very gentle'
· Staff had a clear understanding of safeguarding procedures and whistle-blowing policy
· The manager demonstrated a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act 2005
· People were treated with dignity and respect and staff were described as caring and helpful
· Sufficient staff were deployed and a call monitoring system was in place to record visit attendance
Darethealthcare UK Limited was rated Good across all five key questions at its September 2017 inspection, demonstrating safe medicines management, personalised care planning, well-trained and consistent staff, and effective governance systems. The service improved from its previous Requires Improvement rating, with no regulatory breaches identified.
Strengths
· People consistently reported feeling safe with care staff, who were described as kind, respectful and caring
· Medicine administration records were completed accurately with no errors or omissions; staff received medicines training and competency spot checks
· Robust recruitment checks in place including DBS, references, proof of identification and right-to-work verification
· Staff received regular training across a wide range of areas including safeguarding, MCA, manual handling and equality and diversity
· Care plans were personalised, reviewed six-monthly and reflected individual needs, preferences and risks
caring: Dignity, privacy and respect
Good
caring: Person-centred involvement in careGood
caring: Cultural and spiritual needsGood
responsive: Care planning and reviewsGood
responsive: Complaints handlingGood
responsive: Independence and activitiesGood
well-led: Quality assurance and governanceRequires improvement
well-led: Leadership and managementGood
well-led: Staff engagement and feedbackGood
effective: Access to healthcare professionals
Good
caring: Dignity and respectGood
caring: Person-centred approachGood
responsive: Care planning and personalisationRequires improvement
responsive: Complaints handlingGood
well-led: Quality assurance and governanceRequires improvement