A CARE agency based on Lowbourne still does not meet national standards despite making improvements across the board in its recent Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection.
MiHomecare Wiltshire, which is contracted by Wiltshire Council to run its ‘Help to Live at Home’ scheme, is still being monitored on a ‘Requires Improvement’ rating by the care watchdog.
A report published in December saw the company’s safety rating improve from ‘Inadequate’ – the lowest possible mark – to ‘Requires Improvement’. The other three categories being examined were the service’s responsiveness, effectiveness and leadership, which all remained unchanged at ‘Requires Improvement’.
The report, which followed a visit made in September, raised concerns about the number of cover staff available, the accuracy of medicine records, and reported that “people remained dissatisfied about the timing of their visits”.
Although the ratings had not changed and there were still shortcomings, the inspectors noted that action had been taken to improve the safety, effectiveness, responsiveness and management of the service. It recorded improvements in all inspection areas and demonstrated that the service was getting better across the board.
The report read, “At this inspection, we changed the rating of the safe domain but did not review the other ratings. This was because we wanted to see improvements are sustained and made over time. We will check this during our next planned comprehensive inspection.”
Problems with the company were exposed in a report released in March last year, and of all registered MiHomecare services registered and showing a rating online, 14 were good, and 11 did not meet requirements.
Neither MiHomecare Wiltshire nor Wiltshire Council responded to Melksham News’s request for a comment.
The full Care Quality Commission report is online at www.cqc.org.uk
