Gemcare South West Plymouth

Updated 10 March 2025

Date of assessment 10 March to 2 May 2025

Cera Plymouth is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. Not everyone using the service received a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided. We carried out this assessment as we had received some information of concern. At the time of this assessment, 91 people were receiving personal care from the service. We carried out onsite and offsite assessments. We assessed all quality statements under the 5 key questions; Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led. We found 5 breaches of the legal regulations in relation to safe care and treatment, person centred care, staffing, notifications, and governance. At this assessment the overall rating was requires improvement. This is the first assessment for this service at its new office location.

People did not always have risk assessments to guide safe practice. Staff had not updated care plans to reflect people’s current care needs. The service did not always have enough staff to deliver safe care. Staff did not always have sufficient travel time to get to their visits on time. People’s visit times were variable; some were early and others very late. Staff did not stay the full visit time at a high number of visits. We found instances where care staff were undertaking care tasks when they were not trained or assessed as competent. There was a lack of provider oversight. People and staff were not always listened to when they raised concerns and actions were not taken to resolve issues. Governance systems and audits were not effective in identifying or addressing areas for improvement.

However, some people were happy with the care they received. Some staff told us they were happy working at the service and felt supported.

An assessment has been undertaken of a service that is used by autistic people or people with a learning disability but is not registered as a specialist service. 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 that most people take for granted. People had some regular staff who knew them well. However, they also had visits from new staff who did not know them. They were not in control of their lives as systems did not support this in practice. They did not feel listened to and issues that were reported were not always acted upon.

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 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.

Updated 10 March 2025

We received mixed feedback from people who use the service. People told us they did not always receive the care and support that had been paid for. People said, “They have been very late and they don’t let us know” and “timings are all over the place”. People told us staff were frequently not staying for the full length of the call which they told us impacted them as staff were rushing their care.

Some people told us staff did not always complete their care and this meant they were left feeling uncomfortable. One person told us 1 of the care staff was rude and rushed them. They said, “General attitude is rude, the way they say, ‘don’t be long, we don’t have long’ it’s just complete disrespect.” Another person said, “Doesn’t do their job properly, quick wipe down with flannel and gone in 10 minutes. Puts on pyjamas with wet hands.” People told us their preference for a male or female member of care staff had not always been respected. However, other people told us staff were kind and caring. One person said, “The carers are all lovely and do treat me in a respectful manner.”

When people had regular staff who knew them they felt staff could manage risks. One person said, “They are well trained and if I have a seizure they know what to do for me.” However, when new staff, who may not have been able to recognise and respond to risk, visited people there was a potential risk to people’s safety.

Some people told us when they made complaints or raised concerns, they were not listened to and action was not taken to resolve issues. One person commented, “The office do not seem to listen properly. When we call about the timings, or if I text them, they don’t respond”. Other people told us they had no complaints and felt able to speak with staff. One person said, “If I need to call the agency they’re helpful and friendly.