Leeds care service in breach of regulations drops in rating as medicines not managed safely and staffing not adequate

Be Caring Leeds is a domiciliary care service based in LS11.

The service - run from Sugar Mill, Sugar mill Business Park, Oakhurst Ave - delivers more than 3,000 hours of home care every week according to its website.

In 2019, the service was rated 'good' by CQC inspectors.

However, the service has now been given a rating of 'requires improvement' following a September 2021 inspection.

At the 2019 inspection, it was found the provider was in breach of regulation 12 and 17 as governance systems were not robust and medicines were not managed safely.

"We also made a recommendation for the provider to improve their staffing", inspectors said.

"At this inspection we found the service had not made enough improvement and remained in breach of these regulations."

The provider failed to assess, monitor and improve the quality of the service and maintain accurate and robust care records, inspectors found.

"We found shortfalls in recordings; for example, medication administration records (MARs), care plans and risk assessments were not always signed, updated or completed.

"Medicines were not always managed safely.

"People we spoke with were not confident their medicines were administered at the correct times due to visits being late.

"Medication administration records (MARs) were not always accurately written or signed for by staff following administrations."

A spokesperson for Be Caring said the service was "disappointed" with the CQC inspection and will "continue to improve".

Inspectors found evidence staffing levels were not adequate as rota’s showed staff did not always stay the allocated times.

"People we spoke with and their relatives said staffing levels were not sufficient as visits were often late or missed due to staff shortages", the report stated.

"Some care plans lacked up to date and accurate information to guide staff.

"Risks to people and how they were managed were not always fully reflected in risk assessment documentation.

"Staff knew people’s needs and how to care for them however, some people we spoke with said staff required further training to meet their needs.

Users did tell inspectors they felt safe with staff visiting their homes.

There were also systems in place to recognise and respond to any allegations of abuse, the report stated.

Staff were kind, caring and supportive and privacy was valued by staff who maintained people’s dignity.

In a statement to the Yorkshire Evening Post, a spokesperson for Be Caring said: "As an employee-owned care provider we strive to recruit, train, retain and reward our frontline Care Workers to provide the best care possible, but we cannot underestimate the impact that the pandemic and recruitment crisis had on our workforce.

"We are disappointed with the CQC inspection and subsequent report, and while we recognise that we have improvements to make, we are confident that we have the right team in place to ensure the people we support receive safe and personalised care.

"We have good working relationships with the local authority and our commissioners and have provided the assurance, meeting regularly to review actions taken, and they are happy with our response to the CQC report and care delivery.

"We will continue to improve, and we want to demonstrate that we are a good service."

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