OPERATORS of a care provider in Bournemouth say they have ‘worked tirelessly’ to overcome pressures of the pandemic despite being given a ‘requires improvement’ rating by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

CareService24 in Beacon House, Bournemouth, provides home, live-in and residential care to the entire Dorset area.

After an inspection on November 18, 2021, the CQC rated the provider as ‘requires improvement’ overall, stating specific improvements should be made to the safety, effectiveness and leadership of the services provided.

The report said: “Risks to people were not always assessed in a timely way before the service started supporting them.

"The lack of timely risk assessments placed people at risk of harm.

“This also meant staff were not fully aware of how to support people to mitigate the risks in their lives.

“Management systems did not always operate effectively.

“These concerns resulted in breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 in safe care and treatment and the governance of the service.

“People did not always have care plans in place at the time their care started. This made it more difficult for staff to support people effectively.”

However the report also said that almost unanimously the registered manager was seen as approachable, supportive, receptive and motivated to drive improvement.

It also stated that the service worked well with other agencies and understood its role in the wider health and social care system.

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A spokesperson for CareService24 said: “CQC identified many areas of good practice and service delivery in the latest report, which was predominantly a positive reflection of the service CareService24 provides.

“We acknowledge the two areas where the regulator found we need to improve. In the past two years, and in common with other providers, Covid-19 has brought significant challenges when delivering first-class assistance and care to our clients, which we have worked tirelessly to overcome.

“Furthermore, the pressures put on us as providers when we answered the call from local authorities to speed up the discharge of patients from hospital in support of the national Covid-19 Pandemic response, has contributed to the problems identified by CQC.

“The expected time frame made it increasingly difficult and untenable for us to achieve the expectations of both the local authority and the regulator.

“We welcome the CQC inspections as they provide us with important feedback on how to improve our services.

“Our recent inspection highlighted two areas for improvement, and we are pleased to report that we have provided CQC with our actions on how these have been addressed.”