The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has taken action to protect people at PLL Care Services in Witney, Oxfordshire, following an inspection in March. It has again been rated inadequate overall.
PLL Care Services is a domiciliary care service that provides personal care and support for people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 32 people with personal care.
This inspection was carried out to follow up on actions the provider was told to take at the last inspection.
Following this recent inspection, the service’s overall rating has been re-rated as inadequate, as well as the ratings for being safe, responsive, effective, and well-led. The area of caring was not examined as part of this inspection.
The service remains in special measures which means it will be kept under close review to make sure people are safe, and it will be monitored to check sufficient improvements have been made. CQC is also taking further regulatory action which it will report on when legally able to do so.
Roger James, CQC deputy director of operations in the south, said:
“When we inspected PLL Care Services, we found shortfalls identified at our previous inspection hadn’t been addressed. Leaders still didn’t understand how to use their own systems to run a safe service.
“Leaders hadn’t always contacted the safeguarding team or taken the correct course of action following allegations of abuse. Staff also didn’t always take the correct action following incidents or report them to the appropriate authorities, leaving people at risk of abuse.
“Whilst people’s risk assessments contained some helpful information that was personalised, it was often out of date and at times included inaccurate information that could hide key information staff needed to understand how to meet people’s needs.
“People weren’t receiving the full allocation of time specified in their care plans, and risks weren’t consistently identified. For example, people who were diabetic had no guidance or risk assessments in place about preparing the right food for them. There was also no guidance in place for people who needed to be hoisted. Additionally, information had been copied from other people’s care plans which wasn’t relevant to other people.
“We have told leaders where we expect to see rapid, widespread improvements and have taken further action against the provider to ensure people are receiving the care they have a right to expect. We will report on this action when we are legally able to and will continue to monitor the home closely to keep people safe during this time.”
Inspectors found:
- Staff didn’t always know how to report concerns externally and didn’t consistently protect people from abuse and improper treatment
- The provider didn’t always manage or assess risks to people's health and safety when they were identified
- Not all staff were trained to provide safe care, including safeguarding adults from abuse
- Relevant employment checks for staff weren't in place
- Medicines weren’t always managed safely.