The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A South Holland-based company providing care for people with learning disabilities requires improvement according to a Care Quality Commission report.
Domiciliary Care Agency East Area, operated by Achieve Together Ltd, is a supported living service for younger adults and is based at Fleet Road, Fleet.
“Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care,” said the report.
The agency was rated as ‘requiring improvement’ in four of five key areas; safety, caring, responsiveness and leadership after a June inspection.
Concerns about the service were raised by Lincolnshire County Council following visits to Roman House and Willoughby Services.
“The concerns related to safety, cleanliness, staffing arrangements, staff training and recruitment and recruitments, medicines management and staff culture,” says the report.
Roman House was closed by the provider in May.
“We have identified breaches in relation to staffing levels and training, the management of risks to people’s health and safety and governance arrangements at this inspection,” says the latest report.
The service operated supported living with seven people under their care. The CQC does not regulate premises, the inspection looked at personal care and support.
“At the time of our inspections there was not a registered manager in post. A manager was in post who was in the process of applying to become the registered manager,” the inspectors noted.
There was 48-hours notice before two inspectors visited four of the six supported living settings where people were receiving support with personal care.
Staffing levels were not always appropriate, people did not always receive one-to-one care as was commissioned and there was a high reliability on agency staff.
Fire and water safety checks were not always complete, including those for bacteria which could cause Legionnaire’s disease.
Some furniture and flooring was damaged which meant they could not be cleaned properly.
The last registered manager de-registered in June 2022 and it was a year later before another started.
There were three breaches of legislation which the company has to address.
“We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards,” the report says.
The company was asked for a comment, but hadn’t replied at the time of going to press.
