The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Bkind Care Ltd in Leeds, inadequate and placed the service into special measures to protect people, following an inspection on 21 and 25 November.
Bkind Care Ltd provides domiciliary support to people living in their own homes across Leeds, including autistic people and people with a learning disability.
The inspection was carried out following concerns from people using the service and their relatives regarding the quality of care being provided.
Following this inspection, the overall rating for the service, as well as the areas of safe and well led have declined from good to inadequate. The areas of responsive, caring and effective have declined from good to requires improvement.
The service has been placed in special measures which means it will be kept under close review by CQC to keep people safe and it will be monitored to check sufficient improvements have been made. CQC also issued warning notices following the inspection to focus their attention on making significant improvements around consent, safe care and treatment, and how they were managing the service.
Linda Hirst, CQC deputy director of operations in the north, said:
“When we inspected Bkind Care Ltd, leaders had not implemented good processes and systems, which led to people being placed at risk of unsafe care. This service looks after people who rely on staff for their basic care needs and leaders must make the necessary improvements to ensure people can receive the level of care they deserve.
“Staff didn’t record important information about people’s support and wishes in their care plans. One person’s choice whether they wanted to have cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) wasn’t filled in which could delay lifesaving treatment.
“Some staff hadn’t been trained in how to care for autistic people and people with a learning disability. This could place people at risk of inappropriate or unsafe care as staff don’t have the necessary skills to provide care to people with those needs.
“It was positive, however, that staff treated people with respect and kindness on their visits. It was clear they want to do a good job but were often let down by poor care planning and not understanding the needs of people as well as they should.
“We have told leaders where we expect to see rapid, and continued improvements and will continue to monitor the service closely to keep people safe during this time. We will return to check on their progress and won’t hesitate to use our regulatory powers further if people aren’t receiving the care they have a right to expect.”
Inspectors found
- Staff didn’t always get a robust induction to give them the skills and knowledge to provide safe care.
- There were regular team meetings, but these weren’t effective in sharing vital information.
- Medicines weren’t safely managed or administered.
- People and their relatives weren’t always involved in the planning of their care.
- Staff weren’t provided with enough information about people’s likes or dislikes to help understand them and initiate conversation.
- There was a lack of clear guidance on how staff should manage people’s health needs and information in some people’s care plans contained contradictory guidance.
- Leaders were unaware of the requirement to have written consent for vital aspects of care, such as medication administration or consenting to personal hygiene tasks.
However:
- People spoke positively about staff’s infection prevention management.
- Staff felt positive working for the service and felt supported in their roles.
- Staff supported people to have the meals and drinks of their choice.