Updated 11 February 2026
This assessment took place between 16 February 2026 and 23 March 2026. We visited the service office on 16 February 2026 and requested further information off site following this visit. At the time of the inspection the service was registered at 11 Mill Street, Maidstone, ME15 6XW but we found they were actually operating from a new office 3 Sittingbourne Road, Maidstone, ME14 5ES.
The service provides personal care to both younger and older adults who live in their own home. Not everyone who used the service received the regulated activity of personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of the inspection 18 people were receiving a regulated activity. The inspection was carried out due to concerns about the management of the service and to follow up on previous concerns.
During the inspection we found 7 breaches of the regulations in relation to safe care and treatment, staff training and deployment, complaints, safeguarding, person centred care, treating people with dignity and respect and good governance. The service was previously rated requires improvement but has now changed to inadequate.
Incidents and accidents were not always being appropriately reported. This meant there was a lack of oversight into people’s safety, and the service was failing to ensure people were as safe as they could be. There were insufficient staff deployed to provide support to people. This resulted in people having differing experiences of care. For some people calls were late, missed or very early or late. This disrupted some people’s lives and people did not know when staff were coming to support them. Medicines were poorly managed and this was the third inspection in a row we found this to be the case. We also found people’s risk assessments continued to be poor and lacked the information staff need to keep people safe. Following the inspection we received some updated risk assessments. However, these continued to need improvement. There was no system in place to ensure the equipment staff were using to support people was being regularly checked.
We were not assured staff were being adequately trained. Staff were completing a large number of training in 1 or 2 days depending on the size of the group being trained. People’s needs were being assessed. However, assessments were not leading to complete, accurate, up to date care plans.
Records at the service showed very few complaints had been received. However, some people told us they had complained and these complaints were not captured. Feedback from staff was mixed. Some staff felt valued and well supported and others did not. People were not offered the opportunity to discuss end of life plans at the start of their care so they could plan for the future if they wished to do so.
Governance systems were poor. Whilst audits were being undertaken, they were not well focused and did not lead to the service being run in a safe and effective way.
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 user our enforcement powers in response to inadequate care and provide a timeframe within which providers must improve the quality of the care they provide. In instances where CQC has begun a process of regulatory action, we may publish this information on our website after any representations and/or appeals have been concluded, if the action has been taken forward.