Care service which supports people in Bradford 'inadequate'

Lifeways Community Care was previously rated as ‘good’ overall and ‘outstanding’ in one of the key inspection categories.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out an inspection on two dates in August. 

A report says: “The service provides support to people with mental health needs, people with a learning disability and autistic people.

“The service provides supported living services across West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire.”

The report says the inspection was prompted, in part, due to concerns received about staffing, medicines, safeguarding people from abuse and management arrangements.

Inspectors found people “were not safe and were at risk of avoidable harm”.

“Prior to the inspection, we received concerns about people's finances which were reported and investigated by the police,” says the report.

“The investigation is ongoing. The provider told us they had introduced more robust systems to protect people's finances, which included a clear protocol for managing people's monies, purchasing items, receipts and monitoring expenditure.”

It says accidents and incidents were not always investigated or dealt with appropriately.

“The person's risk assessment and support plan had not been reviewed to check if any additional measures were required,” it says.

The report also raises concerns that staff did not always have time to give people the support they needed.

It says: “We saw several examples where the staffing hours provided to individuals did not meet the number of hours that were agreed with commissioners of care.”

“Equipment to help keep people safe was not always used appropriately,” it adds.

“For example, at one setting, two people should have had fobs to call for assistance, but one person's fob had broken several months before the inspection.

“Staff had given the working fob to the person who they thought required it most.”

A Lifeways spokesperson said it acknowledged the report’s findings.

“We are disappointed by their conclusions, which are not consistent with the high standards we expect across the Lifeways Group,” they said.

“A new leadership team has been appointed and we are taking independent advice to ensure we are constantly improving the level of care we provide. We are working to implement recommendations for improvement as quickly as possible.”

“Delivering high-quality care to the people we support is always our top priority. We fully respect and value the important role of care regulators and are committed to working with the CQC to ensure we are providing high-quality care at all times.”

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