CQC inspectors say Luton home care service ‘requires improvement’

A home care service in Luton has been told to improve by Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors.

Afresh Healthcare Limited, on Capability Green, provides domiciliary care for younger and elderly people, and those with dementia. At the time of the inspection in May and June, one person was in its care.

The service's safety and management were highlighted as areas that need to improve in a report published in June.

People felt safe with the care and support provided by the service – but inspectors said service users were at risk of poor care and support.

The report said: “The registered manager did not have effective auditing and governance systems in place to monitor the quality of the service.”

Medicines were not always managed safely, it added.

While staff supported people with them, the report stated: “Medicines administration records did not have enough information on them to ensure the possible risk of administration was mitigated”.

Despite this, inspectors said: "People described staff as very polite, respectful, kind, and caring. The staff knew people well and encouraged them to be as independent as possible.”

One person said: "Staff are very polite, respectful, kind and caring. The ones I have had have all been very kind."

Risk assessment documents were not in place for a person who was previously found to be at risk of developing pressure sores, the report added – but the registered manager took immediate action and created a care and prevention plan for this person.

The report stated: "We found no evidence people had been harmed, however, the provider had not operated an effective system to enable them to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service provided.

"This placed people at risk of harm. This was a breach of regulation 17 (Good Governance) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014."

The manager had not made sure safe recruitment of staff procedures were followed, isnpectors said – not all references were verified and a full career history was not explored. However, the registered manager did take immediate action on this and gave the CQC a full career history for all staff along with an explanation of gaps in employment.

Afresh Healthcare Limited was approached for comment.