- Homecare service
The Business Centre
We served a warning notice on Gaps Healthcare & Training Services Limited on 2 April 2025 for failing to ensure governance systems and processes and safe management of medicines identified the improvements needed in the quality and safety of care being provided at The Business Centre.
Assessment report published 29 April 2025
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of assessment: 11 March 2025. The Business Centre is a domiciliary care agency which provides personal care to people in their own homes. The service provides support to older people, people living with dementia and younger adults with a range of needs including people with physical disabilities. It also provides support to children from 0-18 years and people with learning disabilities and Autism. Not all people who receive support are in the receipt of the regulated activity personal care. We found 2 breaches of legal regulations in relation to safe care and treatment and good governance. People did not always receive their medicines as prescribed or have accurate recording of medicines. This placed people at risk of harm. The provider had some quality systems and processes in place; however, these were ineffective in identifying the concerns we found during this inspection. There were enough staff, however they had not always had the required training to meet people’s needs. Staff understood their roles and responsibilities. People were involved in assessments of their needs which included people’s communication, personal and health needs. We have assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities.The overall rating for this service is requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection. In instances where CQC have decided to take civil or criminal enforcement action against a provider, we will publish this information on our website.
People's experience of this service
We spoke with 10 people and relatives who shared mixed views on the care and support provided. Some people received consistent calls with regular carers, whilst others had raised concerns with leaders as staff were not arriving at the scheduled time or staying for the full duration. However, all people and relatives said staff were kind and caring. Despite our findings people felt staff had the suitable training and skills to complete their roles. Relatives told us, “They get very good care from them, they’re very kind and patient”. “They treat them (relative) well, they are kind, chatty and always check first they (relative) are ok before they assist them”. “They (relative) get very good care from them (staff), they’re very kind and patient”. Most people were provided with information they could understand and knew how to raise concerns. Whilst others said they would prefer a larger font style.