- Homecare service
Fen Homecare
We took urgent action and imposed a condition on Fen Home Care Ltd on 29 November 2024 for continued breach of Regulation 17 Good Governance at Fen Homecare.
Report from 14 November 2024 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of Assessment: 27 November 2024 to 4 February 2025. Although this service is registered to support autistic people and people with a learning disability the provider stated that he would request for this part of their registration to be removed as they were providing a service to older people and did not understand the requirements for providing care to people with a learning disability or autistic people.
During the previous inspection 6 breaches of the regulations were identified, highlighting critical areas of non-compliance. During this inspection 5 of these breaches remain, in relation to; person centred care; safe care and treatment; acting on complaints; staffing and governance. Risks were not well managed, and the service was poorly led. Medicines were not managed safely. Leadership and oversight continued to be ineffective with an insufficient monitoring and evaluation process. There was a lack of clear accountability. The care provided was not always tailored to individuals' needs in a person-centred manner. There was not an effective system in place for dealing with complaints. Staff had not completed all of the appropriate training or competency assessments. Immediate action is required to address these deficiencies to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.
This service remains in special measures. The purpose of special measures is to ensure that services providing inadequate care make significant improvements. Special measures provides a framework within which we use our enforcement powers in response to inadequate care and provide a timeframe within which providers must improve the quality of the care they provide.
In instances where the Care Quality Commission (CQC) have decided to take civil or criminal enforcement action against a provider, we will publish this information on our website after any representations and / or appeals have been concluded.
People's experience of this service
While individuals we spoke to generally expressed satisfaction with their care, our assessment uncovered significant concerns about the actual quality and safety of the care provided. For example, feedback from people indicated that care staff administered their medications as needed. However, a review of medication administration records (MAR) revealed that this was not always done in a safe or consistent manner. This raises concerns about potential health risks and non-compliance with safe medication practices.