Archived: Wimborne Nursing Agency

We found that the agency had reviewed and improved various systems and procedures and had implemented new training for care workers. This meant that the service was in a position to appropriately assess, plan for and deliver care to people who needed the services of the agency. This included assisting people with any medication needs. The agency had also reviewed how it supervised and supported the care workers and had taken action to ensure that record keeping was accurate and appropriate.

At the time of our inspection, the agency was providing personal care to two people living in their own homes. We visited both people and also met with one family member, two care workers, office staff and the registered manager during the course of the inspection. Nursing care was not being provided.

People told us that care workers treated them with respect, were kind, and provided them with the help and care they required. One person said "They (the agency) send people who care and have empathy. That is important for us".

We found improvements had been made in the way the agency tried to protect vulnerable people from abuse, the way staff were recruited and the way complaints were handled.

We found shortfalls in the management of medicines and the way staff were supported and supervised. There were serious shortfalls in the way people's care needs were assessed, planned for, delivered and monitored. We also found serious shortfalls in the records kept about people receiving a service from the agency. They were not accurately completed, had omissions and placed people at risk of unsafe care.

We were told that staff always checked that a person consented to receiving care but that sometimes staff were not familiar with each person's needs and how they needed to be cared for. We were also told that sometimes care staff could not provide all of the care required as they had not been adequately trained.

We found that policies and procedures for safeguarding vulnerable adults and telling staff how to whistleblow were out of date or lacked important information.

We found that staff recruitment procedures had not been properly followed. This meant that not all of the required checks on people to ensure their suitability to work with vulnerable people had been carried out.

The provider's complaints system was ineffective as comments and complaints people made were not always listened to, recorded and responded to appropriately.