A Royton care agency has been ordered to improve by inspectors after it was found to be breaching regulations.

Nobilis Care Oldham, run from Salmon Fields Business Village in Royton, provides in-home care to 200 older people and younger adults.

The care home, which was previously rated ‘good’ by the Care Quality Commission, was inspected after the CQC received concerns relating to the management of medicines, staffing arrangements, and management support.

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Due to the concerns, a team of three inspectors and two ‘experts by experience’, who have personal experience of using or caring for someone, carried out a targeted inspection of whether the service was safe and well-led in April.

In both areas, the care home was told it needed to improve in a report published on Wednesday, June 7.

According to inspectors, medicine recording systems were ‘not robust’, with incomplete and poorly maintained records. Risk assessments were also said to lack detail, and were not always up to date. Some records did not record people’s allergies, GP details, and strengths of their medicines.

The report went on to say the systems ‘increased the risk that people could be harmed’, though no evidence was found in the report that anyone had been harmed.

Auditing systems were ‘not robust’, according to the report, with governance told to improve.

The CQC said this constituted a breach of good governance regulations.

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Inspectors, however, did praise the promotion of ‘person-centred care’ at the agency, with an ‘open and inclusive’ culture noted, and the registered manager and staff said to display person-centred values.

Governance was the main point of contention when it came to leadership. Inspectors found that the agency had identified risk assessments needed reviewing and updating back in January 2023. While this had been marked as complete, the risk assessments the inspection team viewed still had issues with quality.

As a result of the inspection, the CQC told the provider to ensure accurate and contemporaneous records, and to ensure robust monitoring systems to improve the quality and safety of the service, in order to comply with regulatory requirements.