Watchdog criticises Isle of Wight care services

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has taken enforcement action against two care services run by the Isle of Wight Council, after inspectors found they were failing to meet essential quality and safety standards.

Following an unannounced CQC inspection of home care services provided by The Gouldings, Freshwater, and The Adelaide, Ryde, the health and social care watchdog has issued warning notices, ordering the council to carry out improvements.

Inspectors found the health, safety and welfare of people using the services was at risk because there was no system to monitor their quality and ensure they were meeting essential standards.

A council spokesman said the authority accepted the findings and had taken action to address the CQC’s concerns.

The CQC carried out further inspections this week, to ensure services had been brought up to standard, and will publish its findings shortly.

At The Gouldings — where the inspection was carried out because someone contacted the CQC to raise concerns — only one out of six essential standards was being met. At The Adelaide, only two were being met.

Inspectors found referral forms lacked key medical information, care plans had not been completed and assessments of people’s needs had not been carried out. They found the process for reporting potential abuse was not robust enough and the services were under-resourced, with too few managers working excessive hours and, at The Gouldings, a lack of qualified staff.

According to the inspection reports, published on November 27, one assistant manager at The Gouldings said: “We should be getting out to see each and every client to assess their needs. We aren’t.”

Inspectors spoke to two service users at The Gouldings, and six at The Adelaide, who said they were happy with the care provided.

Only home care services were inspected during the visit, in September, not residential and respite services.

Local watchdog, Healthwatch Isle of Wight, said it was concerned the same failings were identified at both services.

Chairman Dominic Crouch said: “Underpinning these specific issues there appears to be a disconnect between the provider, the Isle of Wight Council, and the services provided in terms of resources and expectations of delivery. Clearly more needs to be done to ensure there is a robust quality monitoring system covering all services provided by the council.”

The council spokesman said: “The council awaits the findings of the re-inspection and is confident a robust system for assessing and monitoring the quality of the service is now in place. Steps are also in place to address the other areas identified for improvement by the CQC, which involves the recruitment of additional staff.”