Elderly people and dementia patients put at risk of Covid by home care provider

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

A South London care provider put vulnerable patients at risk of catching Covid, a new report says.

Staff at Greenwrite Healthcare were not taking weekly tests for Covid, despite looking after elderly people and dementia patients.

One patient described the firm’s care as “total chaos” to inspectors.

Government guidelines recommend home care workers test weekly for the disease.

Patients said carers often ran out of essential personal protective equipment such as masks – putting them at risk of spreading the virus.

Inspectors found that the service was putting patients at undue risk of harm and gave it the lowest possible rating of “Inadequate”.

It was placed in special measures and must show significant improvements within 12 months or risk being shut down.

The CQC report, published on November 23, said: “People were placed at undue risk of harm. Risk assessments for people at risk of developing pressure sores did not include all the known risks.

“Staff were carrying out a procedure with specialised equipment without training or relevant guidelines in place.

“People’s medicines were not always managed safely. Staff were not taking part in the government’s Covid-19 testing programme for homecare workers.

“The overall rating for this service is ‘Inadequate’ and the service is in ‘special measures’.”

Meanwhile patients described the organisation of the service as in disarray.

One patient said: “The organising of the carers is due to poor management.”

The reports says staff had not been trained in essential procedures to protect patients from harm.

One patient suffered from a condition which meant they were at risk of breathing fluid into their lungs and contracting chest infections.

But staff hadn’t been trained in how to use a suction machine in order to remove the fluid.

Nor had a risk assessment been put in place for the patient.

Despite this, care notes revealed untrained staff were regularly using the suction machine on the individual.

A relative of the person told inspectors: “Not one of the care team can use the suction machine properly.

“We feel certain, that they put the machine on but do not attach it, so it sounds like it is working but it isn’t.”

In another incident described in the report, a patient with reduced mobility and who smoked was given a flammable moisturising cream.

Despite the increased risk that they could be harmed by a fire, a risk assessment undertaken by staff failed to record this.

Inspectors last examined the service in July 2021 when they gave it a rating of “Requires Improvement”.

But they found the service had deteriorated since the last visit and it was still in breach of regulations that previous inspections had raised as problems.

It was the fourth consecutive inspection that Greenwrite Healthcare was given a rating of less than “Good”.

Inspectors will carry out a monitoring visit of the service in six months time.

Greenwrite Healthcare has been contacted for comment.