A damning report has revealed 'widespread' evidence of unsafe practices at a Manchester care firm.
Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) unearthed serious issues around medication at Routes Healthcare's Manchester branch, which provides care for the elderly, those living with dementia and disabled people in their homes. The branch has been placed into special measures.
The watchdog found five people had missed doses of their medicines during an inspection in November and a person who ran out of a critical medicine for three weeks. However, there were no records to show whether staff had informed the office that they had not given them medicine.
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A report published last week said evidence of unsafe practice was 'systemic' and 'widespread'. It also revealed carers were given just three to five minutes for travel time between calls, meaning they would leave early or arrive late.
A spokesperson for the firm said they had immediately seconded a senior manager into Manchester after the CQC raised their concerns.
"Timings between calls are very tight, you have to rush the job sometimes," one member of staff told the CQC inspectors, according to the report.
"[It's] impossible to stick to times, I do my best and [I'm] very lucky to have a car so I can make the time up," another care worker said.
"Mornings are very busy, you do have to clip some calls where you can," another admitted, "but I always make sure the work is done before I leave."
The feedback from those receiving the service and their relatives regarding the length of the carers' calls was also mixed, the report said. They said that some staff rush and sometimes leave early, but regular carers are 'very good'.
"When they [staff] have finished, I let them go," one service user told the CQC. "They [staff] always ask if there is anything else, they can do for me."
Inspectors said that effective systems had not been established to assess, monitor or mitigate risks to the health, safety and welfare of people using the service. This placed people at risk of harm, according to the inspection report.
However, inspectors said there were enough staff available to meet people's needs at the complex care and reablement services with a contingency plan in place for staff shortages. The care provider is 'actively recruiting' staff, but work had not started to establish why staff retention was poor - just 48.95 pc.
A spokesperson for Routes Healthcare said: "As a responsible business that strives every day to deliver the highest standards of care to our clients, we accept there were a number of serious shortcomings in the delivery of our domiciliary care department services from our Manchester branch.
"While the Inspection Report makes it clear that none of our clients were harmed, and that our Complex Care and Reablement Services are performing well, we deeply regret that we have failed to consistently deliver the expected standards of the domiciliary care department at this branch. We are working tirelessly to put this right.
"Since these issues were brought to our attention, we have been working closely with the local CQC inspectors to rectify them as speedily as possible. This has included immediately seconding one of our most senior and experienced Registered Managers to lead and support our team in Manchester, while we recruit a new permanent Registered Manager for the branch.
"We are reviewing and strengthening our internal management, supervision and training processes, including medicines administration and management, and have decided to fast-track a planned investment in digital care management systems.
"We have recently appointed a new Director of Quality and, whilst waiting for them to start, our Interim Head of Quality is working closely with our senior leadership team and the CQC to deliver the action plan, liaising with our clients, their families and the local team to ensure our Manchester domiciliary care department is returned to its previous consistently high standards of care as quicky as possible.
"In addition, we have engaged an external consultancy to review our working practices and care standards across our branch network to ensure this situation is not repeated."
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