- Homecare service
Chenai Holistic Home Care Agency Ltd
Assessment report published 5 June 2025
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of Assessment: 24 February to 17 March 2025. Chenai Holistic Home Care Agency is a domiciliary care agency providing care and support to people living in their own homes. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of our assessment the service supported 110 people with personal care.
We found 6 breaches of the legal regulations in relation to safe care and treatment, safeguarding, person centred care, dignity and respect, staffing and governance at this assessment.
Risk assessments were in place, however information within care plans were not always reflective of people’s needs and contained confusing information. We identified 3 incidents where the provider had not reported these to the appropriate safeguarding authorities or where necessary, CQC. Whilst records indicated no concerns with medicine administration, people and relatives raised some concerns about the way their medicines were administered. Care plans did not record people’s preferred method of receiving their medicines. There were not always enough suitably skilled staff to support people.
People’s capacity to consent to care and support had not always been assessed in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). People’s needs were assessed; however, the timing and duration of their care visits was not always provided in line with their assessed needs and preferences. People were not always treated with dignity or respect.
Whilst most staff were positive about the support they received, we also received concerns in relation to their employment particularly around not being able to take their allocated leave and an expectation they had to cover shifts which resulted in their working week being extended.
Governance systems were not effective in identifying or addressing areas for improvement.
In instances where CQC have decided to take civil or criminal enforcement action against a provider, we will publish this information on our website after any representations and/ or appeals have been concluded. This service is being placed in special measures. The purpose of special measures is to ensure that services providing inadequate care make significant improvements. Special measures provide a framework within which we use our enforcement powers in response to inadequate care and provide a timeframe within which providers must improve the quality of the care they provide.
People's experience of this service
We received mixed feedback from people and relatives and whilst some people gave us positive feedback about the staff supporting them, we received numerous concerns about how the service was managed. A person told us, “The company doesn’t seem well-managed." A relative said, “It took the management months to sort out an issue and even then, it was never really resolved.”
Some people didn’t always receive their visits in a way which met their assessed needs. Concerns included timings and duration of their calls. A relative told us, “I’ve noticed [family members] evening call gets earlier and earlier. It’s always at their convenience not [family member]. They [staff] don’t stay long enough. They don’t monitor the times coming in and out and alter their times. They never did another assessment after the first."
We received mixed feedback about the caring nature of staff. A relative told us, “There is one carer who is great and we can’t fault them but for the rest of the week it is just awful.” A person said, “They are so helpful, they will do anything I want.”