A WIRRAL care agency has been told it 'requires improvement' following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Care at Home Group, which is based in Bromborough, provides care support for people in their own homes, helping people with with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating.

The report states that 82 people were receiving care at the time of the inspection. 

According to the CQC's report, following an inspection in November 2023, inspectors found "systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service were not always effective and did not consistently promote good outcomes for people."

They added: "Audits did not identify the issues we highlighted during the inspection, and feedback from people regarding the management of the service was not positive.

The report continued: "Although staff had completed medicine training and had their competency assessed, medicines were not always administered in line with people's plans of care and there were some gaps evident in the recording of medicines administered.

"People told us they did not always receive their calls at the scheduled times. Electronic records did not always provide clear and consistent information regarding call times, as staff did not always log in or out of every call."

Although Care at Home Group was rated 'Good' in answer to the questions, 'Is the service caring?' and 'Is the service responsive?' it received an overall rating of 'requires improvement' and will now need to provide an action plan explaining  what it will do to "improve the standards of quality and safety".

Responding to the report, Karl Jacobie, CEO of Care Home Group, said: "Care at Home Group Wirral were recently inspected by CQC, and the report identifies a number of shortfalls in our care provision.

"We are clearly disappointed with the findings of the report, however we view this as constructive criticism, we respect the report’s findings and pledge to rectify all shortfalls in our service.

"We will be working closely with CQC and with the council on our action plan. Many of the issues identified have been as a result of leadership and communication shortfalls.

"We have already taken a number of actions to address these issues including the appointment of a new Registered Manager, Deputy Manager and Quality Manager, all of whom will support the delivery of our improvement plan.

"We were pleased with the positive comments from the commissioner who highlighted the investment we have made in training, the safeguarding controls we have in place and the high level of respect that clients feel that they receive from our care team.

"We believe that the recognition of the high-quality care plans we provide and each individuals involvement in their own tailored care reflects the high standard of care that we provide.

"We are in the process of communicating with all of our service users and our employees to inform them of the CQC findings and our subsequent improvement plan and we will update them in the weeks to come with our progress as we work to return to our previous high levels of service.

"Care at Home Group continually strive for excellence, as is deserved, and expected by those for whom we care and also by their loved ones, and we are committed to achieving this.

"We look forward to the next inspection and are confident that the changes we have implemented will be recognised at the earliest possible opportunity."