An East London domiciliary care service has been rated 'inadequate' overall and has been placed into special measures.
At a recent inspection in January 2017, CQC inspectors found that the Smile Care Agents service based in Church Road, Leyton, was rated 'inadequate' for being safe, effective, responsive and well-led. It was rated 'requires improvement' for being caring.
The service provides care and support to 20 primarily older people in their own homes that have mostly recently been discharged from hospital and need up to six weeks rehabilitation.
CQC inspectors found the key failings were:
There were no risk assessments completed for any person that used the service despite serious risks having been identified by the referrer at the point of referral.
The provider did not ensure safe staff recruitment. There were no references from previous employers for any of the staff employed. Issues around criminal records checks for care workers were not followed up or risk assessed. Information held for care workers regarding their recruitment was inconsistent. The provider was unclear on how many staff were employed.
People and relatives told us that they regularly experienced late visits. There were no rotas detailing staff deployment. Visit times for people were not documented on their care records.
There was no management oversight of quality assurance to ensure that care was being delivered safely and effectively.
Debbie Ivanova, deputy chief inspector, Adult Social Care, says: “There was a lack of management oversight to ensure that care was being delivered safely and effectively at Smile Care Agents. This meant that the service was fundamentally unsafe.
“The overall rating for this service is 'inadequate' and the service is therefore in special measures. Services in special measures will be kept under review and, if we have not taken immediate action to propose to cancel the provider's registration of the service, it will be inspected again within six months.”
