Care company looking after people in their own Horsham homes told: You must do better

The company – Care Outlook – runs a service looking after people in their own flats in a large purpose-built building at Highwood Mill, Horsham.

Staff at the company look after people with a range of needs including learning disabilities, age related frailties, physical disabilities, dementia, and Parkinson's disease.

The Care Quality Commission inspected the care company’s services in November and, in a report just out, has rated it as ‘Requires Improvement.’

The commission said: “Known risks associated with people's care were not always well-managed.

"Some people's risk assessments did not provide staff with the information they needed to keep people safe.

"Some people's medicines were not always managed safely.”

The commission said that medicines were not counted and recorded and that documentation relating to medicines was ‘not always completed safely’ and that there were gaps in record charts which meant that the manager was unable to see if people had received their medicines.

Some records were not always accurate and some charts were handwritten and were not checked and countersigned by a second staff member.

The commission added: “Expiry dates for prescribed creams were not checked. The opening dates of creams were not recorded; people could not be assured their prescribed creams would remain effective.”

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It also said that people's risks in relation to health conditions, such as Parkinson's disease and epilepsy had ‘not been robustly assessed.’

But, the commission added that it had found ‘no evidence that people had been harmed.’

And, it said: “The provider responded to our concerns throughout the inspection and immediately put measures in place to improve medicine management, the management of risks and quality assurance processes.”

It also said people and staff said there had been an improvement in communication and morale since the appointment of a new manager.

“People led inclusive lives and felt in control of their support,” added the commission. “Staff knew and understood people well and supported their aspirations to live a quality life.

"Staff and management encouraged, listened to and acted upon people's views and wishes.”

Care Outlook has been contacted for comment.