The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Karrthikeya Health Care Limited in Newcastle-upon-Tyne as inadequate and placed the service in special measures, following an inspection in December.
Karrthikeya Health Care Limited, run by an organisation of the same name is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of inspection, three people were using the service.
The inspection was carried out due to concerns received about potentially unsafe recruitment of staff.
Inspectors found six breaches relating to the need for consent, safe care and treatment, safeguarding, staffing, fit and proper persons employed and how the service is managed. Following the inspection, CQC has rated the areas of safe, well-led, caring, responsive and effective as inadequate.
The service has been placed in special measures which means it will be kept under close review by CQC to keep people safe and it will be monitored to check sufficient improvements have been made.
Inspectors found:
- The service didn’t have effective systems and processes in place to investigate safeguarding issues and incidents to keep people safe.
- Leaders failed to understand the diverse health and care needs of people and their local communities, meaning care wasn’t flexible or supportive of choice.
- Staff didn’t ensure a continuity of care when people moved between services.
- Karrthikeya didn’t always involve people in decisions about their care and treatment.
- Staff didn’t respond to people’s needs in a timely manner, or act to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress.
- Leaders didn’t create a positive learning culture and didn’t carry out regular staff training and appraisals to ensure high-quality care.
- The service didn’t always make sure people’s personal, cultural, social, religious and equality characteristics were understood and met.
- Leaders didn’t routinely carry out disclosure and baring checks on new employees to ensure they had suitable backgrounds and experience.