A NEW Forest care service has received a damning report from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) who found several regulation breaches were putting people “at risk”.

Domiciliary care provider Forest Green Care Services Ltd, based in Lymington, was rated as ‘Inadequate’ in a recent CQC report following unannounced visits prompted by concerns received about “medicines, staffing and poor records”.

At the time of inspection, 15 people received personal care support from the service. The service supports older people, some of whom are living with dementia, within their own homes.

In its report the CQC found “no records” of staff receiving dementia care training, just two members of staff were subject to a DBS check, and a recent patient death was not notified to the CQC – a regulation breach.

The report says: “We have identified breaches in relation to risks to people, poor recruitment practices, staffing, person centred care, poor record keeping and lack of management oversight and governance at this inspection.”

“We found no evidence that people had been harmed. However, the provider failed to assess the risks to the health and safety of people and do all that is reasonably practicable to mitigate any such risks. This placed people at risk of harm.

“We could not see any evidence that past employment references had been sought in any of the five staff files. The human resources manager informed us that they had not seen any references. There was no evidence that interview notes were kept, and contracts of employment were also not evidenced.”

One patient relative told the CQC: “Staff do not appear to be knowledgeable about dementia. I don't think they have been trained in that area.”

However, the carers themselves were praised for treating patients with “kindness and compassion” – with one person saying: “Carers are absolutely caring, smiley and polite. Wonderful.”

Forest Green was registered with the CQC in September 2020 and this was its first inspection. The care provider will now be kept under review and the CQC will reinspect within six months to check for improvements.

Forest Green Care Services have been approached to comment.