Inspection finds people using a care agency in Cornwall were 'at risk of harm'
The health watchdog says urgent improvements needed to be made by The Regard Group – Domiciliary Care Cornwall
The health watchdog has found that people using a care agency in Cornwall were put at risk of harm.
The Regard Group – Domiciliary Care Cornwall supports adults and young people with learning disabilities, mental health needs, physical disabilities and associated health-related conditions to live in their own homes.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told the agency that further urgent improvements must be made following significant shortfalls in care.
An inspection of the care agency, which provides care and support to people in their own homes, which is part of a Supported Living Scheme, was carried out in May to check if improvements had been made since CQC’s previous inspection where it was rated inadequate and placed in special measures.
In November 2020, an inspection was carried out due to multiple concerns about the wellbeing of people using the service. Concerns were found regarding the leadership and safety of the service which led to CQC imposing conditions on their registration requiring them to submit monthly improvement reports.
During the latest inspection, further concerns were highlighted that showed unacceptable care. CQC told the provider to submit an action plan to ensure urgent improvements were made.
Following this, the provider decided to withdraw services at three sites and they are working with the local authority to find alternative care services for people by the closure date of 31st August.
Debbie Ivanova, CQC deputy chief inspector for people with a learning disability and autistic people, said:
“When we inspected The Regard Group – Domiciliary Care Cornwall, we found widespread and significant shortfalls in leadership and care which compromised the safety and wellbeing of staff and people using the service. This is not acceptable.
“We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, and independence that most people take for granted.
“There continued to be a high number of safeguarding concerns from staff, people’s relatives and external healthcare professionals. Most relatives we spoke with said they did not feel their loved ones were safe at the service.
“There weren’t enough staff to keep people using the service safe, and this also impacted on the safety of staff. For example, we saw people who required two staff members to care for them, only being cared for by one which placed both people at risk.
“People's support plans were out of date, inaccurate and did not guide staff on what to do when a person was in distress. This was particularly concerning because the service had a high dependency on agency staff who were referring to inaccurate information, meaning people were being placed at further risk of harm and weren’t being treated as individuals.
“The service had aspects of a closed culture which resulted in staff contacting the CQC or commissioners to raise concerns because they did feel they would be listened to or any changes would be made as a result by their own leadership team.
“The provider made the right decision to close this service so that people can receive the care and support they deserve.”
Low staffing levels meant people were not being supported to live as independent a life as possible with opportunities for social inclusion and taking part in meaningful activities.
Health and social care professionals raised concerns that as a result of this, people's basic health care needs were not being met. For example, five health appointments had been arranged to review a person's health and they had not been supported to attend any of these due to capacity reasons.
There were also several other areas of concern found on inspection, including:
• There was negative feedback from health and social care professionals and people’s relatives about the safety and quality of the service.
• Some people had been assessed as needing support from staff on a continuous basis. At one supported living setting there were occasions when staff were not always present. This placed people at risk of harm, and at times people were harmed as a result of being left with no staff support.
• Behavioural support plans for people remained inaccurate which meant there was no consistent understanding or approach on how to support people.
• Staff did not advise visitors to the service how to approach people when they met them to ensure this was done safely both for the person and the visitor.
• Records were inconsistently completed meaning people's care needs were not monitored or reviewed to learn how to improve their quality of life.
• There were not enough staff trained in the administration of medicines on each shift. This placed additional pressure on the whole team when they were already short staffed.
A spokesperson for The Regard Group – Domiciliary Care Cornwall said: “We take all feedback from the CQC extremely seriously and are absolutely clear that the recent standards of care at these services have fallen way short of the high standards that those we support rightly expect and deserve, and that we know we can provide. We wholeheartedly apologise for this. “As announced last month and in conjunction with the CQC and Cornwall Council, we have made the difficult decision to withdraw our care and support services at Buttermill Cottages, Fox House and Govis House, meaning we will no longer be delivering provision within Domiciliary Care Cornwall. This not a decision that has been taken lightly, but is one that we have absolutely made with the best interests of those we support at the centre.
“Despite significant investment and resource being put towards the rapid improvement of provision at these services, following a thorough internal review, and the latest CQC review, we have worked closely and quickly with the Council to identify an alternative provider who will be well suited to deliver the support and resource required at these services, and at the rapid pace needed, going forward.
“We will be doing all we can to help ensure a smooth transition with minimal disruption for those we support, their families, and our teams, whose best interests continue to be at the heart of everything we do”.
You can find the full report here.