A domiciliary care agency caring for people with learning disabilities and dementia in Ealing was not always safe and well-led, a watchdog report has found.
De Vere Care provides personal care to people living in their own homes and serves older people and customers with learning disabilities, physical disabilities and mental health needs.
An inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) was carried out in January this year and the health watchdog has now published a report suggesting De Vere Care “requires improvement”.
During the visit, inspectors found the service was not always effective, responsive, well-led and safe, noting that “the provider did not always follow safe management procedures for medicines”.
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Although De Vere Care was rated as “good” in CQC's caring category, inspectors said they found five breaches of regulations during the inspection on January 9.
These were in respect of safe care and treatment, receiving and acting on complaints, staffing, the need for consent and good governance. The watchdog is now “taking action against the provider”.
The report said: “We saw safe medicines procedures were not always followed. The medicines training for staff and assessments of their competency to manage medicines were not up to date.
“Care workers received an induction and supervision but did not have up to date appraisals, spot checks or training to ensure they had the skills and knowledge to deliver effective care and support.
“Consent to care was not always sought in line with the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. There was not always evidence of complaints being recorded, investigated and followed up in a timely manner.”
After the service was given a rating of “requires improvement” in April 2017, De Vere Care was sent an action plan to be met by August.
However, inspectors found the provider “had not made enough improvements”. The service provider has now been issued with warning notices for its regulation breaches.
'They are kind and respectful'
Although inspectors found the service requires improvement, people and relatives spoken to during the visit said their care workers had developed caring relationships with the customers.
Feedback included one customer saying “they talk to her very nicely and sweetly”, with another telling inspectors “I am quite satisfied with them. They are kind and respectful”.
The inspection in April 2017 identified a breach relating to staffing due to lack of supervisions, appraisals, spot checks and competency monitoring.
However, in the recent inspection, inspectors saw the service's MAR charts were being audited monthly and that the manager had met with people for supervision.
During the visit, a branch manager was spoken to by inspectors who had made an application to the CQC to become the registered manager – a person registered with the CQC to manage the service.
Speaking to getwestlondon on Thursday (May 10), Sunny Sandhu, of De Vere Care's senior management team, said work is now being done to improve the service.
He said: “We had a manager in place, however, I was waiting to be registered as we had moved offices. Therefore, he had to do the registration process again. He has now been registered.
“In regards to training, we have a fully employed training officer who has been scheduling training for our staff in Redbridge.
“Staff supervision has been addressed and we have now recruited 5 more people to help monitor and support the service.
“The majority of the people using our services are happy with the level of care.”
