CQC acts to protect the safety and welfare of people receiving care from a home care agency in Bradford

15 January 2014

CQC acts to protect the safety and welfare of people receiving care from a home care agency in Bradford.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is taking action to protect the safety and welfare of people receiving care from a homecare agency in Bradford.

In a report which is published today, CQC inspectors identify a number of concerns about standards of care provided by Claire Meade Care Limited trading as Caremark (Bradford).

This report details findings from a recent inspection of the agency based at Bradford Chamber Business Park. This inspection took place over six days in November and December 2013 and was carried out to check if improvements required by a previous inspection had been made and to look into new concerns which had been raised about standards of care.

Inspectors reviewed a sample of care and treatment records, observed how care was being delivered, and spoke with people using the service and their relatives as well as members of staff.

As a result CQC found that the agency was failing to meet three of the four standards reviewed and urgent improvements were required.

• Some care plans reviewed by inspectors lacked detail, and did not always offer sufficient guidance in order to help them meet people’s individual needs.
• Information about people’s needs in relation to their medicines was not clear or comprehensive.
• Medicines that had been administered to people were not always being recorded properly and it was not clear if people were receiving their medicines as prescribed.
• Personal care and treatment records contained inaccuracies and were not always updated to reflect people’s changes in people’s needs.
• While records were kept securely some records could not be located promptly when needed and some were not being retained for the appropriate amount of time.

As a result of the inspection, CQC has issued two formal warnings to the provider, requiring improvements in relation to standards of medicines management and records.

Malcolm Bower-Brown, CQC’s Regional Director for the North said:

“The failings we found at Caremark (Bradford) are just not acceptable. We have told the provider very clearly where improvements must be made.

“We will inspect again in the near future and if we find the agency is not making progress we will consider the need for further regulatory action.

“In the meantime, we continue to monitor the agency very closely, liaising with local commissioners to ensure that people using the service receive the standards or care they are entitled to expect.”

Any regulatory decision that CQC takes is open to challenge by a registered person through a variety of internal and external appeal processes.

Ends

For further information please contact the CQC Regional Communications Team, David Fryer 07901 514 220 or Kirstin Hannaford 0191 233 3629.

The CQC press office can be contacted on 0207 448 9401 or out of hours on 07917 232 143.

NOTES TO EDITORS

Further details of the inspectors’ findings at Caremark (Bradford) are published on our website here.