DCA Essex

DCA Essex is a supported living service providing personal care to people with a learning disability, autistic people and people with a physical disability. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. We carried out an announced assessment on 9 December 2024, as part of the assessment we visited 3 shared houses where people received personal care as well as the registered office. At the last assessment published in October 2023 the provider was rated as requires improvement. At this assessment the provider had made improvements and was rated as good. We looked at quality statements relating to areas in Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led. For those areas we did not assess, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic. The service met this guidance. Staff had received training and demonstrated a good understanding of their responsibilities to support people to manage risks. Staff told us they were well supported in their roles and there were enough staff to support people safely. Staff also told us they felt the service had improved since the last assessment.