Pro Healthcare Services

We carried out this assessment due to concerns we received regarding staffing and management at the service. Theproviderwas previously in breach of the legal regulation in relation to governance. Improvements were not found at this assessment, and theproviderremained in breach of this regulation. During this assessment, we identified 2 additional breaches relating to person centred care and safe care during this assessment.

We continued to find a lack of effective management and oversight at the service. The provider failed to implement effective processes to monitor and improve the quality of the service and identify the issues found during our assessment. Records were not always complete or contemporaneous. Management were not always following the regulations, best practice guidance or their own policies and procedures.

Overall, people did not always receive safe, effective or person-centred care. Risks were not well managed. Systems to monitor safety, including incidents, safeguarding and medicines, were not effective. People did not always receive their care visits at the scheduled times and staff did not always stay for the full duration of the care visits; people and relatives told us about the negative impact this had on them. We completed a safeguarding referral in relation to these concerns.

There was a lack of evidence that catheter care was always completed safely. Overall, recruitment was managed well. Infection prevention and control practices were embedded, and staff understood how to manage risks of infection.

A review of training records identified gaps in some mandatory training and competency assessments; however, updated information and supporting evidence provided by the service demonstrated that essential training had been completed or was in progress, with examples of competency assessments available for staff sampled.

Quality assurance, learning and governance systems had not been effective in identifying or addressing these issues prior to our assessment. We found improvements were required to ensure the service delivered was safe and effective for people.

We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.

This service is being placed in special measures. The purpose of special measures is to ensure that services providing inadequate care make significant improvements. Special measures provide a framework within which we use our enforcement powers in response to inadequate care and provide a timeframe within which providers must improve the quality of the care they provide.

In instances where CQC has begun a process of regulatory action, we may publish this information on our website after any representations and/or appeals have been concluded, if the action has been taken forward.