A RUNCORN care agency ‘requires improvement’, says a health watchdog following a rigorous inspection.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) found several breaches of healthcare legislation when it examined Caring Hands Cheshire.

The domiciliary care agency on Church Street provides personal care for 19 people with special needs.

Three areas failed to meet regulation standards, the service’s safety, responsiveness and the way it was led.

Inspectors said: "The service was not always safe, not always responsive and not always well led." 

Managers failed to record incidents or monitor medication.

Debbie Westhead, CQC’s deputy chief inspector for adult social care in the north, said: “People are entitled to services which provide safe, effective, compassionate and high quality care.

“If we find that a service requires improvement we will expect them to provide us with a full plan setting how they will address the issue.

“We will return to check that they have made the required improvements.”

Inspectors spoke to staff, clients and their families, visited several homes and examined various documents.

In a report, inspectors said: “Management information regarding accidents and incidents and missed visits could not be located.

“People were not adequately protected from the risks associated with unsafe medicines management as staff did not have a list of prescribed medicines to each person.”

Updating home files and dealing with complaints had not been completed since a quality assurance officer resigned in January.

Inspectors concluded: “The provider failed to ensure that effective systems were in place to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service or to maintain securely records necessary for the management of the regulated activity.”

The effectiveness and caring of the agency was rated as good.