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CQC Responds To Joint Investigation By The Sunday Times And Channel 4’s Dispatches On Instances Of Poor Home Care By Two Providers

CQC-logoThe Quality Care Commission has issued a response following the Sunday Times a story which exposed serious failings in care in people’s own homes in two specific locations – the Haringey branch of Sevacare and the Hillingdon branch of Care Outlook, and the coverage in the Dispatches on program on Channel 4.

The failings uncovered by the reporters included missed, late and ‘clipped’ visits, falsifying of records, and care plans not being followed.

CQC has stated that it is “clear that these examples of poor care are unacceptable and do not represent services that should be safe, caring, effective, responsive to people’s needs and well-led – this is what people deserve and what CQC expects.”

Independent from the joint investigation by The Sunday Times and Dispatches, CQC took action against Sevacare, to prevent it from providing personal care and support from its Haringey branch, following a lengthy legal process.

Care Outlook’s Hillingdon branch registered with CQC last September and CQC will use the information from The Sunday Times and Dispatches, together with other information of concern, to inform its planned, unannounced inspection of the service.

Andrea Sutcliffe, Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care at the Care Quality Commission (CQC), said: “When providers are paid to care for people in vulnerable circumstances, they must ensure that care is safe, compassionate and high quality.

“The examples of poor care, as uncovered by Dispatches and by The Sunday Times, are completely unacceptable and in particular, confirm the significant concerns we have had about Sevacare’s Haringey branch over the past year.

“Our concerns were so serious at the Haringey branch that we used our toughest enforcement powers to close it down. This action took longer than we would have liked because instead of addressing the problems and improving people’s care, Sevacare chose to challenge us at every step of the legal process.

“I am extremely concerned that Sevacare has transferred the care of people living in Haringey to their Tower Hamlets branch – a service that we have recently rated as Requires Improvement and Inadequate for whether it is ‘safe’ – without addressing the underlying problems. My inspectors will be carrying out a further inspection of the Tower Hamlets service soon.

“Also, we will be inspecting Care Outlook’s Hillingdon branch soon to provide a full assessment of the quality and safety of its service. If we find unacceptable levels of care, we will not hesitate to use our enforcement powers to the full.”

 

 
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