CQC requires immediate improvement at a domiciliary care agency in Rotherham, South Yorkshire

07 April 2014

CQC requires immediate improvement at a domiciliary care agency in Rotherham, South Yorkshire

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is taking action to protect the safety and welfare of people receiving care from Voyage DCA in Rotherham, South Yorkshire.

In a report published today, CQC inspectors identify the findings from an unannounced inspection of the domiciliary care agency which took place over two days in February 2014.

Visiting inspectors reviewed a sample of care and treatment records and spoke with people using the service, their relatives, and members of staff. As a result they found that the registered provider, Voyage 1 Limited, was failing to meet all five national standards reviewed.

Inspectors’ concerns included:

• Care plans were not always in place for people using the service which put people at risk of not being provided with appropriate care and support to meet their individual needs.
• Inspectors found that medicines were not always recorded or administered safely.
• A review of staff records showed that staff were not receiving appropriate support through regular supervision sessions or formal appraisals.
• Inspectors found that up to date training was not being provided to all staff. For example training records indicated that 24 staff required an update in health and safety training and 21 staff required an update in fire safety awareness
• Staff were not completely clear about what constituted abuse and how incidents should be managed.
• Inspectors found evidence of occasions when safeguarding concerns had been raised but staff had failed to follow the correct policies and procedures to investigate or address the concerns.
• The agency was failing to effectively monitor the quality of service being provided and incidents and errors were not analysed to identify trends and put actions in place to prevent reoccurrence.

As a result of the inspection, CQC has issued two formal warnings to the agency requiring improvements in relation to safeguarding of people who use services from abuse and assessing and monitoring the quality of service provision.

The agency must also take action to address shortfalls against the additional three standards that are not being met.

Debbie Westhead, CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care in the North said:

“The failings at voyage DCA Rotherham 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 CQC Regional Communications Officer, Kirstin Hannaford on 0191 233 3629 or 07825947160.

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

NOTES TO EDITORS

CQC has published full reports on our website here.