South Tyneside care provider pledges to do better after being told it must improve by watchdogs

Careline Homecare, which provides personal care and support to over 200 residents in South Tyneside, has been told it requires improvement by the Care Quality Commission after a routine inspection in September 2019.

A report, published on January 1 this year highlighted how the provider, previously rated as ‘good’ in 2016, needs to improve in areas of safety, responsiveness and leadership and was not always effective.

But the service was found to be caring, with people saying they felt safe when carers came into their home.

The report highlighted how steps should be taken to ensure care plans include detailed risk assessments and that these are updated to reflect people’s needs.

The report said: “We found no evidence that people had been harmed however, systems were either not in place or robust enough to demonstrate safety was effectively managed. This placed people at risk of harm.”

Management had also failed to follow company policy in providing written feedback to complaints, but have since undertaken training.

The report also acknowledged that staff support people to achieve their goals, eat a healthy diet and had gone “above and beyond” in organising a social event to help tackle isolation among those using the service.

Careline Homecare says it is already taking steps to improve things.

Max Wurr, a senior spokesperson commented: “Careline Homecare takes its responsibilities to the people that use its services very seriously and we were therefore very disappointed to receive a ‘requires improvement’ rating from the Care Quality Commission further to their inspection of our South Tyneside branch in September.

“Whilst we were pleased to read that the service was found to be caring, there is clearly scope for improvement in a number of other areas and we are already working on improvement plans to address those in the full expectation that we will return the branch to a ‘good’ rating at the next inspection. We apologise unreservedly to anyone that has felt that the service we have provided to them has not been up to standard they are entitled to expect; we are making every effort to put things right.”