Leeds home care provider in special measures after putting people at 'significant risk of harm'
A care home in Leeds has been placed into special measures by the healthcare watchdog, after inspectors found people it looked after were being put at “significant risk of harm”.
ILS24 Health Care Limited, based at Mabgate Business Centre, Mabgate, was placed into special measures and rated Inadequate overall after a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection between October 29 and December 16 last year.
Following the inspection, ILS24’s, which provides personal care to adults in their own homes, saw its overall rating drop from Requires Improvement to Inadequate, as have its individual category ratings for being safe and well-led.
The ratings for it being effective and caring also declined from Good to Requires Improvement. Responsive has been re-rated as Good, CQC said.
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Linda Hirst, CQC deputy director of operations in the north, said: “When we inspected ILS24 Health Care Limited, we found leaders didn’t have a good enough understanding of the service to ensure people were receiving safe care.
“It was also concerning that staff were providing people with some basic nursing support which the service isn’t registered to do, and the registered manager didn’t know they had to register with us to legally be able to provide this.
"In addition, staff hadn’t received adequate training to be able to carry out this nursing support safely. This could place people at significant risk of harm as staff didn’t have the necessary skills and knowledge to be able to provide this type of care.”
During the inspection, CQC found five breaches of regulation in relation to providing safe care and treatment. This included medicines management, the need for consent, staffing levels and whether the appropriate people were employed, as well as governance.
The service has been placed in special measures, which means the CQC will monitor it closely to keep people using the service safe while improvements are made.
CQC has also begun the process of taking regulatory action to address the concerns, which ILS24 Health Care Limited has the right to appeal.
Despite the concerns raised, Ms Hirst added: “However, it was positive to hear that relatives felt staff treated their loved ones well, they turned up on time and didn’t rush their care.”
“We have told leaders where we expect to see rapid improvements and we’ll continue to monitor the service closely to keep people safe during this time.”
Staff were also described as being aware of “what action to take” if they suspected any abuse, while “effective policies and procedures” were in place to maintain good standards of infection, prevention and control.
ILS24 Health Care Limited has been approached for comment.