Dunstable home care company rated as 'requires improvement' by health watchdog

A Dunstable care company has been issued with a warning notice over failings uncovered during a visit by the health watchdog.

The Care Quality Commission stated APT Care Central Bedfordshire and Bedford requires improvement in four out of the five categories it looked at. In the category ‘is the service caring’ it was found to be good.

The first inspection of the newly registered service found some aspects of the service were not always safe and there was limited assurance about safety.

Inspectors found systems and processes were not in place to safeguard people from the risk of abuse. One relative said: "We have a problem with a carer who we do not want to come, we've told the manager many times, but they still send the carer."

Safeguarding logs received from the provider did not include all incidences of alleged abuse the CQC had been informed of from the local authority. This included safeguarding concerns raised by external health and social care professionals and relatives. Furthermore, incidents known by the provider to have been referred to the safeguarding team by external sources relating to poor moving and handling, self-neglect, use of inappropriate language and pressure damage to skin had not been notified to the CQC.

The report states: “On review we found some of the concerns raised through people's complaints and incidents also met the threshold of a safeguarding concern or at least warranted contact with the local authority adult social care team. CQC had also not been notified of these concerns.”

But inspectors also found some positive comments about safety. One person said, "Heaven's yes safe, always very helpful, they look after me very well, I feel safe with them." Another person said, "No problem with them, they use my key safe, all fine, if there was a problem, I would speak to the office."

APT Care Central Bedfordshire and Bedford on High Street South is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people living in their own homes.

Inspectors said: “We found no evidence that people had been harmed. However, the provider was not thoroughly assessing all risks to people, which put people at risk of potential harm.”

The report also states medicines were not managed safely with staff not always confirming people had received their prescribed medicines, although again no-one was found to have been harmed by the omission.

The report stated: “The lack of management oversight meant areas needing improvement had not always been identified. For example, safeguarding concerns had not always been recorded.

“Despite our findings, the provider had acted on lessons learned from a previous incident and had implemented further training for staff in diet, nutrition, and pressure care.”

Inspectors said: “We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, safeguarding service users from abuse and improper treatment, staffing and good governance at this inspection.

"We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.”

APT has been approached for comment.