CONCERNS about a Barnsley homecare agency have been reported to the council’s safeguarding team by health inspectors.
Quality Homecare (Barnsley) Ltd, based at Oaks Business Park, Stairfoot, is an agency registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes.
It has been rated as inadequate and placed in ‘special measures’ following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.
It was rated as inadequate for being safe and well-led, and as requires improvement for being effective, caring and responsive.
A report said there was no system in place to ensure that sufficient time was left between visits so people received their medicines as per the prescription to reduce the risk of accidental overdose.
The problem was identified at the previous inspection, and inspectors found there had been no improvements at the most recent inspection. It said medicines errors caused by visits being too close together had not been recorded and acted upon appropriately to prevent possible harm.
On one occasion, inspectors found there was a three hour and 31 minute gap between two visits where paracetemol was administered. For a different person, daily records showed there was an insufficient gap between medicines administration recorded to safely meet the requirements for the prescription.
The report went on to say there was no effective system in place to assess, monitor, record and reduce the risks associated with very late or missed visits in line with the agency’s policy. The registered manager did not accurately record or monitor incidents to reduce the risk of further missed or very late calls to people who were vulnerable.
Inspectors found three out of the five people or their relatives they visited had missed visits since the last inspection in July 2017.
The registered manager said when visits were missed, an incident form was completed and social services were informed. But the report said some missed visits were not recorded in line with the policy, which meant the agency was not keeping accurate records of late or missed calls to keep an overview of the service and reduce risks to people.
There were mixed responses from people about having a regular staff team that visited at a scheduled time and stayed for the allocated time, though most people and their relatives said they were treated with consideration and respect by staff during visits.
Complaints and concerns were not always acted upon, and there was a mixed response from people and their relatives to confirm when they raised any issues with managers that their concerns were listened to.
Services in special measures are kept under review and will be inspected again in six months.
A spokesman for the council said: “The scheduling of visits to ensure sufficient time for travel between calls is the responsibility of the provider. Quality Homecare (Barnsley) Ltd is not one of the council’s contracted home care agencies, however Barnsley Council does work closely with the CQC and care providers when quality concerns are raised. The role of the council will include providing support and challenge to the care provider in their delivery of the improvements required by CQC to ensure services are safe and of a high quality.”
No-one at the agency wanted to comment.
