CQC impose urgent conditions on Fen Homecare

A company that provides care to people in their homes has been rated inadequate for the second time by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The CQC has imposed "urgent conditions" on Fen Homecare in Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, to restrict it from taking on new clients without prior agreement.

The commission said the inspection, which finished in February, was carried out to follow up on improvements the CQC told the care provider to make in 2022.

Michael Razvan, the director of Fen Homecare, said he had requested a reinspection, but it was not carried out until 2024, after the provider had lost clients and was struggling financially after two years of having an inadequate rating.

The CQC inspection began in November and found the care home's leaders did not support staff to manage medicines safely, partly due to inadequate training, the report said.

Staff sometimes gave people medication at the wrong time and care calls were not carried out at agreed times, leaving people experiencing long gaps without support, it said.

Other concerns were that some staff did not always understand what people were asking because of a language barrier, which caused "unnecessary distress and confusion".

Stuart Dunn, the CQC deputy director of operations in the East of England, said it was "disappointing" that improvements from the last inspection had not been made.

He said shortfalls compromised people's safety and wellbeing, which is why the CQC imposed urgent conditions.

"Poor leadership was behind a lot of the issues we found in how well care and support was delivered, documented and monitored," Mr Dunn said.

"Without these effective processes or oversight, the service wasn't always able to provide safe or effective care or learn from mistakes."

The commission said it expected to see rapid and widespread improvement and it would closely monitor the service.

Mr Razvan said the service had improved following its inspection in 2022 but a reinspection did not happen until 2024.

He said by this time the company had lost clients due to its inadequate rating and was "forced to survive" while struggling financially, so the errors previously noted began to reappear.

"I consider that if CQC would come to reinspect us, as they stated in their letter and their report, which is published on their website, we would not be again in this position in November 2024," Mr Razvan said.

Fen Homecare said changes were being made to the service.

It has the right to appeal the decision.

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