- Homecare service
Metro Homecare Ltd
Assessment report published 21 August 2026
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of the assessment 28 May to 12 June 2026. Metro Homecare Limited is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. At this assessment the provider told us they were supporting 79 people.
We assessed the service against ‘right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed autistic people and people with learning disability respect, equality, dignity choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. At the time of the assessment, the service was not supporting any autistic people or people with learning disabilities, but the provider had regard to, ‘right support, right care, right culture’.
We undertook a comprehensive assessment of thisservice following concerns raised by healthcare partners about the safety and quality of people’s care. Following our assessment, we rated this service as requires improvement overall with a breach of legal regulation in relation to safe care and treatment, good governance and staffing.The provider did not have effective call monitoring systems which ensured people received their care at agreed times. As a result, people did not know when they would get the support they needed with their personal care needs and their medicines.
People’s needs were assessed. However, the timing of their care was not always in line with their preferences and needs. Risk assessments did not always contain information that was important for people’s care. During our inspection we found occasions when staff worked for continuous periods without having a day off to enable them to rest and recuperate between their shifts.The provider’s systems indicated people were not getting the support when they needed it. The provider could not evidence they had identified these concerns or had a plan in place to address them.
Staff we spoke with were caring and they told us about the importance of treating people with dignity and respect. Health professionals told us they thought the provider responded well to people’s immediate care needs. They felt staff were open to ideas which would enhance the care people received.Staff received an induction and an opportunity to work alongside colleagues to learn how to support people and get to know them. The provider offered a wide range of training courses that equipped staff with the skills to be able to do their jobs.
People's experience of this service
As part of our assessment, we spoke with people receiving care and their families.Some people and their families told us about inconsistencies in the care they received, particularly regarding the timing of care calls and staffing arrangements.
A person told us, “I trust the staff in the week but not at the weekends. There is one lady who comes in the morning, she’s lovely and she is very good. The problem really, sometimes one comes in and gives me some medication in the morning and perhaps I won’t see her again until the night and I found it very distressing because I was missing out on one of my medications at the weekend.”
A family member told us, “On one occasion the regular carer was on a day off and they had not found a staff member to cover them, so we had to ring up. They come in at different times, either very early or very late, there’s not much consistency. They are clearly clock watching too, quite often they tell us they have to rush off to their next client.”
There were mixed views about the management of the service. Some people told us they communicated with the provider through their carers, who would ask questions on their behalf if they had concerns or queries. A family member we spoke to told us how they had wanted to discuss increasing the care hours for their relative but told us they were still waiting for somebody to call them back.
People spoke warmly of their regular staff. They told us staff were caring and felt confident in their ability to care for them. Some people talked about staff they had built relationships with over a number of years. They told us how in some cases staff had been flexible and had offered support at times when it was not scheduled. A person we spoke to told us, “My carer is a lovely person, they know their job and are really good.”