A Carlisle care provider has been placed in special measures because inspectors found its services to be inadequate.
Amicable Care Limited looks after 29 people in their own homes – older adults and younger disabled people – and was inspected by the Care Quality Commission in July.
While the people it looked after were positive about the service, the commission found shortfalls across many areas.
Inspectors found medicine records were not accurate and it did not have an effective system in place to make sure medicines were managed safely,
They said: “We found no evidence that people had been significantly harmed. However, risks relating to the safe administration of medicines were not always effectively managed.
“Following the inspection, the provider sent us evidence to demonstrate they had sought advice from prescribers regarding prescribing instructions to ensure these were correct and clear.
“The provider also made changes to the way they recorded medications, to ensure these gave clearer instructions on how medication should be administered and updated information regarding allergy status. However, further improvements were still required.”
Inspectors said the provider did not always use safe recruitment procedures to employ staff and references were not always checked.
But, they added: “People told us they felt safe. One person told us, ‘I like the carers I get and feel very safe with no worries’. A relative told us, ‘They keep him very safe at all times’.
“Following the inspection the provider gave us some additional evidence to demonstrate they had attempted to follow safer recruitment practices for the latest employee, by requesting references. However, further work is required to meet safe staff recruitment.”
Reviews of people’s care did not always happen in line with the providers policy of every six months, inspectors said. “Records we reviewed showed that some people’s care had not been reviewed for over 18 months. We did not receive any documentation that captured the views of the person, their families or changes made as a result of these review.”
Inspectors found, however, that staff upheld people’s dignity and privacy.
The inspection found that care plans did not include enough information about people’s support needs.
Inspectors said the service was not well-led.
They said: “There were widespread and significant shortfalls in service leadership. Leaders and the culture they created did not assure the delivery of high-quality care.
“We identified shortfalls across many areas of the service including the assessment of risk, medicines management, the maintenance of records relating to people, staff and the management of the service. These had not been identified by the provider’s monitoring systems.”
The Care Quality Commission issued warning notices over the management of medicines and the provider not having an effective system in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service.
Amicable Care will be kept under review for six months and if it has not improved enough, the commission will take enforcement action.
