The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated the quality of services being provided by Stocksfield and Haltwhistle, a domiciliary care service in Northumberland, as Inadequate following an inspection in June and July.
Stocksfield and Haltwhistle provides personal care and support to people within their own homes or the community in Hexham, Haltwhistle and the surrounding areas. At the time of this inspection 268 people were being supported by the service.
This service was previously inspected in November 2016 and rated as Requires Improvement after CQC inspectors found breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008.
Read the full report from the inspection.
Debbie Westhead, CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector for Adult Social Care said:
“People are entitled to services providing them with safe, effective, and high quality care. We found care provided by Stocksfield and Haltwhistle fell short of the standard that services are expected to provide.
“We found breaches in regulation at our previous inspection and disappointingly found limited progress has been made in addressing these despite us telling them where they must improve.
“Although we recognise that new management were dealing with historic issues, new processes for improvement had not yet been implemented or embedded.
“People were not always receiving medicines as their doctor had prescribed them, putting them at risk.
“We are working with local partners including Northumberland County Council to ensure the safety of people using this service.”
Other findings from the inspection included:
- Although incidents were recorded on their system, actions were not always recorded, and there was no analysis to learn from them or spot trends to help avoid them in future.
- Staff did not always follow the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act.
- Surveys had not been completed to gain the views of people, their relatives or staff at the service.
CQC expect that improvements will be made, and will return in due course to check on the progress of these.
ENDS
For further information please contact CQC Regional Engagement Officer Kerri James by email kerri.james@cqc.org.uk or by phone on 07464 92 9966.
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People are entitled to services providing them with safe, effective, and high quality care. We found care provided by Stocksfield and Haltwhistle fell short of the standard that services are expected to provide.
Debbie Westhead, Deputy Chief Inspector for Adult Social Care