A watchdog has told a Chester home care agency that looks after vulnerable people to make significant improvements or face closure.
Cestrian Care, which has just moved into new offices at Blacon Parade, specialises in caring for the over 65s, those with dementia, learning difficulties, mental health conditions, sensory impairments and physical disabilities.
The provider describes itself online as ‘the new leading provider of home health care’.
But the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the independent regulator of health and social care in England, has placed the provider into special measures after rating the overall service ‘inadequate’.
By law care providers must be registered with the CQC but the watchdog has warned the agency’s owner Kimberley Ellen Dupree to make improvements or face having its registration cancelled, effectively closing the business.
Mrs Dupree declined to comment.
Debbie Westhead, CQC’s deputy chief inspector of adult social care in the north, said: “Whilst we received some good comments about care received from people the service supported, the inspection of Cestrian Care raised serious concerns and observed practices that were unsafe.
“To not have effective policies and systems in place helping staff to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the people they support and to not inform CQC of a change of address, and new recruitment of a manager, are very serious concerns.
“Since the inspection we have been working closely with the local authority to ensure that people being provided support are not at risk. We have placed this service in special measures and made it clear where action must be taken to address the concerns identified.
“We will re-inspect the service within six months to check whether sufficient improvements have been made. If we find that the service being provided remains inadequate, we will consider taking further steps to cancel its registration with CQC.”
During unannounced inspections in July this year, inspectors found the service was failing to provide care which was safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs or well led.
One of the most serious areas of concern was around the lack of understanding of safeguarding and policies that could be used to guide staff to protect people from risks of abuse. Inspectors found evidence of incidents having occurred which had not been reported to the local authority or CQC.
The report stated: “A significant incident had occurred that involved a person who used the service. Following discussion the registered provider and manager told us that they had reported this to the local authority. We checked with the local authority following the inspection and found that this was not the case. This meant that the person was left at potential risk of harm and was not protected from abuse or the risk of abuse.”
Related story: Blacon care home no longer rated as inadequate
Other issues highlighted were:
■Checks on new staff had not always been completed before they started providing care
■ Inadequate care records meant people were not protected against risks associated with unsafe use of medicines and at risk of being deprived of their liberty
■ Staff were not provided with effective training and not supported to develop through regular supervision and appraisals
■ The provider did not follow their own procedure when responding to complaints and some were not resolved satisfactorily, with no evidence of learning
■ Inspectors could not be assured the provider was accurately recording the time carers spent supporting people and that staffing was adjusted when a person’s care needs changed.
The CQC said the service had been operating with incorrect registration information because the provider had failed to inform CQC the service had changed address and a new manager had been recruited. The provider did not have an effective system in place to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service people received.
Established in September, 2013, Cestrian Care promises ‘a vision for a better home care service’ on its website. The ‘About’ section states: “In little over a year Cestrian Care has exploded onto the home care scene offering affordable and passionate service to a variety of customers with a diverse range of skills to meet the needs of our customers.
“A family-run business with quality and most importantly care at its heart and a well-trained staff of enthusiastic young men and women always happy to help. Our staff are trained to the highest standards upon employment and only friendly and caring people make the grade and our pursuit for quality doesn’t end there as employees also take regular training to keep their skills sharp.”
