Nomase Care in Chadwell Heath remains in special measures

A personal care agency has improved its overall rating but remains in special measures.

Nomase Care Ltd in Chadwell Heath was given a ‘requires improvement’ rating overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) after an inspection carried out from July 4 to 12.

The care provider was previously found ‘inadequate’ during a previous inspection in December 2022 and was placed into special measures to ensure that the service makes improvements.

It will be reviewed again by CQC within six months to see if the agency has addressed all the issues.

In the previous report, breaches of regulation were found regards carrying out risk assessments to ensure people always received safe care.

This was still a problem identified by inspectors during their latest visit.

Similarly, medicine management was slammed last time as the inspectors had found that people may not have received their medicines as prescribed.

The new report, published on August 11, pointed out that “not enough improvement” had been made on this front.

Read More: Nomase Care Ltd in Chadwell Heath rated ‘inadequate’ by CQC

Risk assessments, it said, had still not been completed in relation to people’s health conditions such as people at risk of stroke, heart disorder, respiratory failure and diabetes.

This, it added, meant that people with these ailments may be placed at a risk of avoidable harm.

In one case, it was found that a person’s medicine administration chart hadn’t been signed by the staff for an entire month.

However, the inspectors acknowledged that staff had now completed medicines administration training and competency assessment.

The inspectors criticised the leadership at the agency for not promoting a “positive culture that is person-centred, inclusive and empowering”.

They found that there was a lack of a “robust audit system in place to identify shortfalls and take prompt action to ensure people received safe high-quality care.”

Accurate records, they noted, were not being maintained in a continued breach of legal requirements.

Staff’s punctuality with attending calls was questioned previously, as several late calls were found by inspectors. They had also been told that staff had not been given enough time to travel between appointments delaying them.

The provider was no longer found lacking in this area as there were now systems in place to ensure staff attended care calls on time.

Pre-employment checks were said to have been carried out to confirm that carers were suitable to support people safely.

A relative of a person using the service told inspectors that they “felt safe leaving the house and leaving their family member with the carers.”

They said: “With them I feel very safe. I would be horrified if we had to change the care agency.”

A lack of personalised care plans that was highlighted in the last report had been fulfilled in this inspection. Care plans, the new report said, now considered people’s preferences on personal care and nutrition.

Nomase Care Ltd declined to comment.

A detailed report published by the CQC can be found on their website https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-3831279297/reports .