TWO Bradford care agencies have been given the ‘requires improvement’ rating by health watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Both Yorkshire Care at Home, which is based at the Euroway Trading Estate, and Care2Care Yorkshire (Limited), which runs from Beck Mill in Clayton, received the rating after recent inspections.

It was Yorkshire Care at Home’s first inspection since it registered in January 2018. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

Inspectors said safe recruitment procedures were not consistently followed and that there was a high staff turnover “which was a barrier to ensuring staff built up the skills and knowledge to care for people effectively”.

The report said that concerns had been raised about a lack of continuity of staff and that action was needed to improve the timeliness of calls to some people.

Inspectors also spoke with the service’s registered manager about the need to introduce end of life care plans.

It was also said that audits and checks within the service needed to be more robust. Three breaches of care were identified.

However, staff were said to be kind and caring, with people saying they were treated with dignity and respect.

The report said: “A service improvement plan was also in place which demonstrated the service was committed to continuous improvement. We saw future priorities were reviewing policies, implementing electronic call monitoring, introducing new care plan tools and reducing staff turnover.”

The service declined to comment on the report.

In inspecting Care2Care, which also provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats, the CQC said breaches of regulation had been identified in relation to safe care and treatment, good governance and staffing

Inspectors said: “We were concerned about the repeated breach of regulations found at this inspection. Robust governance and quality assurance processes should have ensured the service was compliant with regulations.”

The report said that risks to people’s health and safety were not always assessed to help protect them from harm and inspectors found discrepancies with medicine administration records.

People who used the service, and their relatives, said staff were “helpful, attentive and caring”. The report said the management team was “committed” to making a difference to the lives of people who used the service.

Phill Lautman, of Care2Care, said a lot in the report was administrative and the support delivered has been attested by service users, staff and health professionals.

He said there had been a de-brief after the inspection and action taken immediately.

Mr Lautman said Care2Care is in its fifth year and the “majority” of clients have been with the service for the whole time.