A care service in Leicester has been rated inadequate for a third consecutive time by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), and will remain in special measures, following an inspection carried out in May.
24/7 Flex Care Ltd is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people with dementia, learning disabilities, physical disability, sensory impairment or autistic spectrum disorder. At the time of this inspection there were 11 people using the service.
It was previously rated inadequate and placed in special measures following inspections in February and October last year. This latest inspection was carried out to assess whether improvements had been made, but the service was still found to be inadequate. There have been repeated breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, gaining consent to care, recruitment procedures and good governance.
As well as being rated inadequate overall following the latest inspection, the service remains rated inadequate for being safe, effective and well-led. Caring and responsive were not looked at during this inspection and remain rated as requires improvement.
As 24/7 Flex Care remains in special measures, it continues to be closely monitored by CQC. If significant improvements are not made, enforcement action will be taken which could lead to closure of the service.
Rebecca Bauers, CQC’s director for people with a learning disability and autistic people said:
“When we inspected 24/7 Flex Care Ltd we were disappointed to find the provider hadn’t addressed our concerns raised at previous inspections. We also found new issues identifying other ways that people weren’t safe and were at risk of avoidable harm because the attitudes and behaviours of the leadership team meant the service wasn’t well-led.
“We were concerned that staff didn’t feel they could speak up and share their experiences which is an indication of a closed culture. This is unacceptable, and all staff should feel able to speak up and be listened to. Staff that did speak to us told us they were worried about any repercussions. Leaders must address this as a priority as all staff should feel they can speak up and be heard.
“Leaders here were unable to guarantee people were receiving the right care or support that autistic people and people with a learning disability should be able to expect. We found people weren’t safe because staff weren’t recruited safely, and medicines and risks weren’t managed well. We saw one person at risk of falls had been diagnosed with a health condition increasing their risk of bone fractures but didn’t have a falls risk assessment in place.
“People weren’t always receiving the right care because care plans failed to record accurate and consistent information about people.
“Leaders here haven’t taken our previous feedback and used it to make the rapid improvements we told them we expected to see.
"People deserve a much higher standard of care than what’s being provided by 24/7 Flex Care Ltd. The service will remain in special measures, and we will be keeping it under close review. If we don’t see significant improvement, we won’t hesitate to take further action, even if this results in the closure of the service."
Inspectors found the following during this inspection:
- People did not always receive safe care. Risks to people's well-being had not always been identified or mitigated. This placed people at risk of harm.
- Medicines were not managed safely
- The provider failed to ensure safe recruitment procedures were followed
- Staff did not have the necessary training required to care for people's specific needs
- People were not supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests
- Care plans failed to record accurate and consistent information about people. This made it difficult for staff to ensure people received the right care
- A closed culture had developed within the service. This meant people were more likely to experience harm
- The attitudes and behaviours of leaders did not ensure the service was well led.