ReadyCQC, a weekly field guide to CQC home-care regulation

criticalSafeguarding: “staff members had still not received up-to-date safeguarding and safety training appropriate to their role”
criticalStaffing levels: “the service did not have sufficient numbers of care workers to meet people's needs. People had consistently received late or missed calls.”
criticalMissed or late visits: “out of many late or missed calls that occurred between October 2017 to April 2018, only one late call had been recorded as an incident”
criticalMedication management: “there was no information in their care plans or assessments to indicate why this should be the case nor were there any risk assessments in relation to administration and management of medicines”
criticalStaff training: “no evidence that care workers who had commenced working at the service since September 2017 had received training to support them in their roles”
criticalGovernance: “whilst there was an internal audit system in place, we found this to be unreliable and irrelevant because shortfalls were either not addressed or identified”
criticalLeadership: “even though the provider had known since 2017, that they were in financial difficulties, in April 2018 they had still not drafted a recovery plan”
moderateCare planning: “care needs assessments had not yet been updated to include information about people's care needs and histories”
moderateIncident learning: “similar incidents had continued to occur because the service did not monitor calls on a routine basis to make sure they were completed”
moderateComplaints handling: “No complaints had been recorded at the service, even though people had spoken about concerns”
moderateSupervision / appraisal: “there was no evidence to show us that such checks were being carried out”
moderateRecord keeping: “The provider did not always maintain accurate, complete and contemporaneous records relating to care delivery. We found that people's care records were not being audited.”
moderatePerson-centred care: “Information contained in the assessments that was relevant to people's care was not always included in their care plans.”

Single Assessment Framework · 2025-03-19

Framework: SAF · 6 pages · PDF

PHC Home Care Ltd is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide personal care to people in their own homes. The service provides support to people of all ages and different abilities. At the time of this assessment, they supported 8 people who received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspect the service received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also take into account any wider social care provided. We conducted this assessment to follow up on concerns we identified at the last inspection. These included breaches of Regulations relating to safe care and treatment and good governance. The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 16 April 2020). At this assessment we found some improvements had been made to medicines management systems, but these systems were not yet effective. We also found that there was a still a lack of audit systems in place to help identify shortfalls. Sufficient improvements had not been made and the service remained in breach of regulations in relation to medicines management and good governance. Assessment activity started on 30 January 2025 and ended on 7 February 2025. There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service operates. We assessed quality statements from the safe, caring and well-led key questions. The overall rating for the service remains requires improvement. Medicines were not always managed effectively. There were insufficient systems to support oversight and governance at the service. Care records included details about potential risks to people. Staff were recruited safely. Staff spoke positively about working at the service.

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PHC Home Care Limited

Inspection reports (6)