Tower Hamlets care provider rated ‘inadequate’ by health watchdog

A Tower Hamlets home care provider for elderly and vulnerable residents has been placed in special measures after it was rated inadequate by a health watchdog.

Sevacare was forced to close its Haringey branch in February after a joint investigation by Channel 4 and the Sunday Times found care workers had falsified log books and cut visits short.

Now the Tower Hamlets branch of Sevacare has been placed in special measures, after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found it had failed to make sufficient improvements since its previous inspection last November.

In an unannounced inspection in April, the CQC found that Sevacare – Tower Hamlets was failing to provide safe care and treatment, adequate person-centred care, consent and good governance.

Inspectors found the care provider had not made adequate improvements on issues including consent, safe care and treatment, and good governance.

The subsequent CQC report detailed errors in patients’ care plans and found that staff were failing to carry out risk assessments adequately.

Lateness was identified as a significant problem, and in some instances timesheets documented care that had not been provided.

Inspectors found that although measures were in place so that staff had the necessary training, inductions of new staff and shadowing were not fully completed.

There was also a lack of assessment the competency of new staff to provide care effectively.

The care provider was furthermore not always following its own policies to ensure safer recruitment processes were in place – potentially putting people at risk.

Commenting on the report, Debbie Ivanova, deputy chief inspector of adult social care for the CQC in London, said: “People who use domiciliary care services rely on their carers so that they can get on with their daily lives. If the carers are late, or cancel at late notice, it can have far reaching consequences.

“When providers are paid to care for people in vulnerable circumstances, they must ensure that care is safe, compassionate and high quality.

“Sevacare has made some improvement in the punctuality of home visits, however lateness was still identified as a significant problem by many people and their families.

“We have made it clear to Sevacare that it must improve or they could face further action to ensure that the people who rely on its services get the care to which they are entitled.”

Ravi Bains, the CEO of Sevacare, commented: “We acknowledge that there were issues in this branch relating to the separately run Haringey contract, whose issues are well documented but operated from the same building. We are working closely with the local authority and the CQC in putting right the issues identified.

“Tower Hamlets Council acknowledge that these contracts are separated and are aware of the improvements already made which are also on going.

“We hope upon our re-inspection in a few months time, the hard work of the Tower Hamlets team will be recognised and we achieve the standards we know we can deliver.”