Inspectors were left “extremely concerned” after an unannounced visit at a Fife home support service flagged issues over risk management.
An inspection by the Care Inspectorate was carried out earlier this year on services offered in Glenrothes and Kirkcaldy by the Richmond Fellowship Scotland.
The organisation provides support to people in their own homes and in shared accommodation, which can range from a few hours a week to 24-hour staff support.
The inspection – carried out between January 23 and February 2 – found that there were a number of occasions where people were placed at risk due to staff and managers not being “confident or competent in recognising harm”.
This, a report said, left inspectors “extremely concerned”.
No ‘robust’ system to learn from events
The report read: “We would expect care providers to have established systems to learn from events of significance, take steps to reduce the likelihood of it happening again and share this with relevant staff.
“Although there was an organisational system in place, we were concerned to find that there had not been a robust response to analyse or learn from events.”
It was also found there were inconsistent risk assessments and support plans in place for residents the Richmond Fellowship service supports.
At the time of the inspection the service supported 21 people across central Fife.
Inspectors identified several occasions where the information was either conflicting, out of date or absent, and found this placed people at increased risk of “poor health and wellbeing outcomes”.
“We would expect care providers to have established systems to learn from events of significance.”
Care Inspectorate
The Care Inspectorate also indicated there had been a number of number of “significant events” involving the service which had not been recognised or reported as safeguarding concerns.
No detail was given as to the nature of the events, however the report noted staff had not sought medical advice regarding concerns over medication.
Despite the concerns, inspectors noted those looked after by the service had “warm, kind and meaningful” relationships with the staff, who were able to were able to offer “comfort and reassurance” during periods of distress.
Richmond Fellowship Scotland has been contacted for comment.
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