Colchester care provider Jadee’s Nursing Agency rated inadequate

Officials from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) conducted a short-notice inspection of Jadee’s Nursing Agency, which is based in Colchester, in November, with the findings having now been published.

The registered manager, Dinah Obeng, also came into criticism, with inspectors concluding the level of safety and quality of leadership were inadequate.

When judging how effective, caring and responsive the nursing agency was, the provider also fell short, with the three metrics rated as requiring improvement.

It meant the care provider, which looks after vulnerable people in their own homes and also acts as a recruitment agency by supplying social care staff to other homes, was given the lowest possible rating.

In the 18-page document, officials noted scores of concerns including staff giving patients the wrong medication and visits which were hours behind time.

Record keeping, staff checks and risk assessments were also found to be of a low standard.

One page of the report, noted that inspectors identified two new members of staff had not received Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) checks, according to their official work files.

Inspectors found that when visits from care staff had been paid to people later than expected, there was no evidence the lateness had been noted and subsequently followed up.

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As part of the inspection, the CQC spoke to seven people who use the service, seven people’s relatives about their experience of the care and six members of staff.

Although most people felt care workers were caring and compassionate, there were shortcomings in the care they provided.

For example, a relative of one person said their relative had been put to bed as early as 6.10pm, because the driver had a long drive home.

As they were unable to get out of bed without assistance, they had to stay in bed until their morning call.

When looking at the electronic call monitoring system, inspectors found alerts, even if they had been dealt with, had not been categorised as such – it meant there were as many as 25,908 unread alerts on the monitoring system, which could potentially include missed visits which hadn’t been identified.

Jadee’s Nursing Agency was also found to be in breach of healthcare legislation.

Legally, care providers must notify the CQC if allegations of abuse have been made against members of staff, but inspectors found this had not been done.

When contacted by the Gazette, Miss Obeng said she has appealed against the CQC’s findings and how it carried out the inspection.

She said: “We are currently working with Suffolk County Council to address and put in place each recommendation for a re-inspection of the service on March 17, 2023, and continue to deliver the best and safe care to our service users.

“The rating of the inspection was published before we received a response about the outcome of our appeal or representation, demonstrating the CQC made their minds up not to uphold our representation.

“It appears a decision to publish had already been made before any of these could be fairly reviewed and considered.

“We were not made aware of the overall pass mark or percentage in order to achieve any rating that was inadequate – we did not see any marking or rating sheet except a report telling us inadequate and requires improvement on all five key areas.”