Housing scheme told it must improve

Meadow Green in Dale Lane, Heckmondwike, was rated as “requires improvement” by the health watchdog after it found there was no proper system in place at the service to monitor people’s care.

The housing scheme, which includes 63 flats, provides support for elderly people and people living with dementia.

A report, published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on February 23, said: “People were not protected against the risk of unsafe or inappropriate care and treatment because accurate records in respect of each service user were not maintained.

“People’s care records did not always provide an accurate record of their care and support.”

The report rated it as “requires improvement” for being well-led and responsive.

It said: “The service was not always well led.

“We did not see any record which detailed any interactions between staff and the people they were supporting.

“The registered manager told us there was not a documented record of the audits completed for support records.

“This meant there was not a robust system in place to monitor and evaluate peoples care and support plans.”

Inspectors visited Meadow Green on December 22 last year.

The report rated it as “good” for being safe, effective and caring and praised staff for their support and kindness.

It said: “People were cared for and supported by, suitably qualified, skilled and experienced staff.

“People told us staff were kind and caring.”

The housing scheme is run by health and social care charity Community Integrated Care.

Martin McGuigan, Community Integrated Care’s director of quality, said: “Providing the highest standards of care for the people we support is our number one priority and so and we take the findings of this CQC report very seriously.

“While we were pleased that the report commended Meadow Green as being a safe, effective and caring service, we were very disappointed to have two areas for improvement identified.

“These related to our failure to complete a piece of pre-inspection CQC paperwork and poor record keeping around support planning.

“As soon as we received the report we took immediate action – implementing a robust plan of action to resolve both issues identified within it.

“This included improving our internal monitoring systems and approach to support planning, as well as reviewing and improving our general communication processes, to ensure that neither oversight happens again.”