Care company in fraud case to be struck off

A Welsh care company that employed a woman who defrauded a pensioner out of more than £6,000 is to be struck off the professional register.

Porthmadog-based Gofal Gwynedd has been served a “notice of proposal for the cancellation of the service” meaning it will no longer be allowed to operate as a care provider.

Last week, one of its former employees Kim Lorraine Taylor, 52, of Glan Gors, Harlech, was jailed for 18 months for defrauding 76-year-old client Ruth Davies, of Blaenau Ffestiniog, out of £6,600.

Now the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW) is taking steps to shut the care provider down due to its failure to “provide good, safe care,”

Gofal Gwynedd was identified as a “service of concern” on 12 June and an enforcement plan put in place.

The CSSIW confirmed the company failed to improve sufficiently since then and that it intends to use its powers to cancel the registration of the service.

The inspectorate and Gwynedd Council are now in discussions about how best to ensure Gofal Gwynedd’s clients’ care needs are met once the company ceases to operate.

Gwynedd Council said it has procedures to protect against financial abuse of home care clients, but there is no way to completely eliminate the risk of misconduct.