Shrewsbury care agency told to make improvements
A Shrewsbury care agency has been told it must improve the service it provides.
Affinity Homecare Shrewsbury, which is based at Oxon Business Park, Bicton Heath, was inspected by Care Quality Commission inspectors in March and its report was published earlier this month.
Inspectors found that the business, which provides domiciliary care to people with dementia and younger disabled people living in their own homes, required improvement in almost all areas.
A previous inspection, in August 2017, also found that the agency was performing below par.
Since that inspection a number of changes had been made at the agency however, these were not sufficient.
An inspector said: "Sufficient improvement had not been made in relation to how risk associated with people's needs were identified and managed. At our last inspection risks associated with people's needs were not accurately assessed and management plans were not always in place to guide staff how to reduce risks for people.
"At this inspection although risk assessments were in place these were not always specific to people's individual needs and sometimes lacked detail about how staff could reduce the risks. However, people felt safe when staff supported them.
"We also found concerns around the safe management of medicines. Although people told us they were satisfied with the support they received to take their medicines, records did not always accurately record when their prescribed medicine should be taken or when and where prescribed creams should be applied.
"We found gaps in recording where staff had not signed to indicate whether people had taken their medicines or had their creams applied. People's care plans continued to be brief and did not adequately reflect people's needs and the support they required to meet them.
"People were involved in planning and reviewing their care however, their care plans were not always updated when changes were identified at the review."
But the agency was praised for its caring nature.
The report added: "People found staff to be kind and considerate and had formed positive working relationships with them. Staff sought people's consent before supporting them and supported them to be involved in decisions about their care. People felt staff treated them with dignity and respect and promoted their independence to enable them to remain living in their own homes."
