THE manager of a service providing care in people’s homes said they are working on an action plan after an inadequate Care Quality Commission report.

Bloomfield Care Limited, based in Wareham, was deemed inadequate in the safe and well-led categories, requires improvement in the effective and responsive categories but good in the caring category.

The new service provides personal care to 13 people, with 17 in total using it.

The report said: “Most people we spoke with told us they felt safe and were happy with the care Bloomfield Care Limited provided.

“However, we found some risks to people’s health and welfare had not always been assessed.

“Where some risks had been identified they had not been kept up to date, reviewed and some did not have clear instructions to tell staff how to mitigate risks to people. This meant people’s needs were at risk of not being identified and people were at risk of avoidable harm.

“Medicines were not managed safely. Medication administration records had not been transcribed correctly and they did not show medicines had been administered as prescribed.

“Not all staff had completed safe administration of medicines training. This put people at risk of harm. Staff we spoke with knew how to safeguard people from abuse, however the service had not ensured all staff had completed mandatory training.”

The report added that staff training was inconsistent, with some members not completing mandatory training before the 12-week deadline.

However, it noted that care plans were sensitively written, and people told inspectors they liked the staff “as they were caring”.

One person described the carers as the “best I have ever had”.

Manager of the service, Russell Bloomfield, said: “Bloomfield Care came to life amid the Pandemic, we took a steady approach to allow us to absorb the fluctuations in resources during this unsettled time.

“We are now faced with an even bigger challenge, in resourcing. The combination of both a deep lack of carers in the industry and managing periods of isolation has presented problems that are not unique to our business.

“The team here, have been nothing short of heroic in their efforts, and I am immensely proud of their dedication.

“We fully accept the feedback on the report, but we take great comfort from achieving ‘good’ in the provision of care, which is a significant point.

"As a business, we adopted a responsible attitude and took on no new clients as this situation arose.

"It still remained that the management team were in clients' living rooms, providing care, rather than at their desks, often seven days a week for 15 hours a day.

"We are incredible proud that through these challenges, on a recent survey, our clients reported back a 100 per cent satisfaction, and this highlights the warmth and professionalism of our team.

"I would like to thank the team at the CQC, they have been supportive and concise, and we look forward to having the opportunity to present our efforts again.

"Clearly, we have areas to get right and with the support of a first class industry consultant we have put in place a comprehensive action plan along with immediate action as it was required.”