Oxfordshire care provider faces having registration stripped away
The care service has been rated inadequate once again by the CQC
An Oxfordshire care provider faces having its registration stripped away after recent “concerning” inspections rated them as ‘inadequate’.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has taken further action to protect people at PLL Care Services in Witney, Oxfordshire, following an inspection in October that sees them rated as inadequate again overall.
“Staff didn’t always have the necessary skills and training”
The CQC found six continued breaches of regulations in relation to person centred safe care and treatment, consent to care and treatment, staffing levels and whether they employed appropriate people, and how well they were managing the service.
Following this recent inspection, the service’s overall rating has again been rated as inadequate, as have the ratings for being safe, responsive, effective, and well-led.
The care service in Witney is run by PLL Business Solutions whose registration has been cancelled and is subject to an ongoing appeal.
Roger James, CQC Deputy Director of Operations in the South, said: “It was concerning to find despite our previous inspection highlighting serious issues, not enough had been done as a result, to keep people safe and meet their needs.
“Behind this was poor leadership. Our experience tells us that when a service isn’t well-led it is harder for them to provide good care, which is what we found here.
“Staff weren’t able to support people with basic care needs such as medicines. It was concerning for example that one person who needed support with applying creams had to repeatedly ask staff to check areas requiring treatment, rather than staff taking the initiative.
“Some people’s care plans also said staff should be monitoring their blood sugar levels but training records we saw didn’t show that any staff had completed training to do so.”
PLL Care Services say, “we strongly dispute the findings, which we believe fail to reflect the true quality of care we provide, the significant improvements we have made, and the substantial efforts we have undertaken to meet regulatory standards.
“Since the initial CQC inspection in August 2023, our service has operated without any safeguarding concerns or alerts. Despite challenging circumstances, we have consistently maintained high service user satisfaction, as demonstrated by positive feedback shared directly with inspectors. In response to previous concerns raised by CQC, we engaged external consultants, enhanced staff training, and implemented a range of improvements. Disappointingly, the latest report fails to recognise these efforts, continuing to focus on outdated issues rather than acknowledging the progress we have made.”
Mr James added: “Although people told us they generally felt safe with staff, they were concerned that staff didn’t always have the necessary skills and training to do their roles. This was reflected in what we saw, particularly around safeguarding.
“It was concerning that despite us flagging at our previous inspection, some staff were still unaware that safeguarding concerns needed to be made to the local authority. This is essential to keep people safe from the risk of abuse and neglect.”