A CARE provider which supports vulnerable people in their own homes has been found to be inadequate in its first inspection by the regulator.

Care Quality Commission inspectors visited SA Quality Care Ltd in Bradford, five times earlier this year, and discovered that the people in their care were not always safe and that a number of improvements needed to be made.

The firm is commissioned by Bradford Council to provide short-term help with personal care needs for adults for an initial six weeks, before a longer-term provider can be found.

At the time of the inspections, the company, which is based at Cornwall Place in Manningham, was supporting 20 people.

Inspectors found that “medicines were not managed safely”, that “the required checks had not been undertaken before staff started work”, and that “staff did not receive induction and and training to support them effectively in carrying out their role”.

However, they did also find that people and relatives spoke positively about the service SA Quality Care staff provided and that the staff were caring, adding: “They were satisfied with call times and said they were supported by the same staff.”

The report added however that: “Although people told us they felt safe the absence of effective systems to identify and manage risks places them at risk of harm.”

SA Quality Care Ltd has outlined to the Telegraph & Argus that a number of the issues identified, such as effective training, obtaining references and records of care, had been made more difficult due to Covid-19.

And in fact an outbreak of Covid in the office at the time of the inspection had meant that some handovers and logs had not been collected in the usual way - they have now switched to an electronic process.

Following the inspection an SA Quality Care sent an action plan to the CQC to outline how it would deal with some of the more serious risks identified in the inspection, and measures are already being put in place, the firm said.

The CQC report said: "We have identified breaches in relation to recruitment, safe care and treatment, staff training and good

governance at this inspection."

As a result of being rated inadequate, the service has been placed in special measures, which means it will be kept under review and will be reinspected within six months.

The report described one person saying: "They [staff] are still learning. There is some stuff I have to tell them," when it came to risks associated with people's health.

Online training over supporting people with medicines, saw one care worker say: "The training was very basic. It did not really help."

They found no records of references being requested or received, and one staff member had worked alone without a DBS check in place.

Records also showed staff completing 18 online training modules in one day.

SA Quality Care said it had adopted QCS policies from the start and was in regular contact with families to address safety concerns.

It said they had difficulty accessing medication records "due to pharmacies not providing them on several requests", but it has taken steps to rectify this.

It added that due to pandemic obtaining references had become difficult, but they had asked for a personal reference and HMRC tax records to prove previous employment.

"The safety and wellbeing of each service user is our priority, and we continue to work with our umbrella company for DBS checks on each individual," the spokesman said.

Staff had undertaken online training modules due to the pandemic, and shadow shifts were given, adding: "CQC was not happy with the level of training provided by the current training provider, to which SA Quality Care immediately changed provider and carers are now to be provided with virtual online training via camera."

They added: "During the pandemic all our employees have been working tirelessly to provide the care needed. Carers have been and continue to go over and beyond what is required and spending significant time with service users, more than commissioned by the contractor."

A spokesperson for Bradford Council said: “We have been made aware of the issues that have been raised by the Care Quality Commission at SA Quality Care, which is a Homecare Provider.  

“Bradford Council are working closely with the home care provider to ensure current practices are monitored and improvements are made in line with those required by the Care Quality Commission, to achieve the best outcome for all service users.

"Our main priority at this moment in time is to ensure that there is no disruption to the continuation of care for existing service users, however in line with our processes there will be no new placements made until improvements have been sustained and the Care Quality Commission re-inspection takes place."