11 June 2010
The manager of a domestic care and support services agency has been fined £1,800 by magistrates at Cheltenham in Gloucestershire.
The Care Quality Commission brought the prosecution against Mrs Kathryn Hopkins, of Tidswell Close in Quedgeley as manager of Care and Domestic Services South West Ltd.
Mrs Hopkins pleaded guilty on Monday 7 June to a charge of managing a domiciliary care agency while unregistered between January 2008 and February 2009. By law agencies offering personal care, such as feeding, bathing and toileting to people who need assistance in their own homes, must be registered so that they can be inspected to ensure they comply with national standards.
The court heard that Care and Domestic Services provided personal care to two women in their own homes in Gloucestershire. In both cases the company’s employees provided personal care to the women – although Mrs Hopkins told the court that she had not instructed any of her staff to provide personal care.
Care and Domestic Services South West Ltd was dissolved in October 2009.
The court ordered Mrs Hopkins to pay £1,500 toward the Commission’s legal costs.
Ends
Note to editors
A new system of registration is currently being introduced by the Care Quality Commission with new essential standards of quality and safety across all health and adult social care services in England. Providers of adult social care must be registered under the new system from 1 October 2010, with their registration under the Care Standards Act 2000 continuing until then.
About the CQC: Snippet for press releases
About the Care Quality Commission
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England.
We make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and we encourage care services to improve.
We monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety and we publish what we find to help people choose care.