A care company with overstretched staff has been placed into special measures.

Inspectors found that workers were not given enough travel time between people’s calls and they were scheduled to be in two places at once.

Clients said this impacted on the level of care they needed.

If the service does not improve in up to a year it could ultimately lead to its registration being cancelled.

The report by the Care Quality Commission was made on the Helping Hand Care Company in Worthington Street, Dover.

It said: “Staff were not given enough travel time between people’s calls and and sometimes they were scheduled to be in two places at once.

“Staff told us this placed them under pressure and caused them anxiety and people told us this affected the level of care they received.”

Helping Hand provides care and support to people at home including the elderly, those with dementia and the physically disabled.

The service, inspected in August, was branded overall as inadequate, plunging from the previous grade of requires improvements after another inspection in June last year.

The lack of travel time between calls led the company to be branded inadequate in the category of safety.

It also got this grading for responsiveness and leadership.

The inspectors found that the service was not consistently responsive and complaints were not always documented or analysed to find ways of reducing their risk of reoccurrence.

The CQC said that there was no formal system of review to ensure that the service was providing safe, effective care.

The registered manager and provider had made changes to the service without consulting with people or involving staff.

The company was classed as requiring improvement in terms of effectiveness and care.
Staff did not always take action when people fell or needed medical attention.

Systems and processes were not in place to ensure clients were consistently treated with respect.

But the inspectors acknowledged that clients believed that staff were knowledgeable and well trained. and the registered manager had raised safeguarding concerns when necessary.

Clients also said that they had built up strong relationships with staff.

Helping Hand has been contacted to respond to the report.