A domiciliary care service has been issued with two warning notices and rated "inadequate" by health watchdogs for the second time.

Hands of Compassion Care Ltd, based in Chatham, provides personal care for adults living on their own, many of whom have dementia and age-related frailty.

In January 2020, the agency was inspected for the first time by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and put into special measures after it was found to have breached various practice rules.

It was rated as "inadequate" less than a year after opening and was kept under review to be reinspected in six months.

In November of the same year, a report said improvements had been made so it was taken out of special measures and had its rating changed to "requires improvement."

It was then inspected by officers in July 2022 to check progress of the action plan which the providers had implemented to improve care services.

But in the most recently-published report this month, it was rated "inadequate" for not being safe, effective and well-led, "requires improvement" for responsiveness and "good" for being caring.

It said "people were not safe and were at risk of avoidable harm" as appropriate care plans and risk assessments were not in place and those that were lacked important details.

Inspectors also found patients medication was not managed safely and some staff were administering it without being trained.

There was also "conflicting documentation" regarding people's prescriptions – one record showed they were taking it while another said it had been stopped.

Another example, one record showed a patient was allergic to certain antibiotics but this had not been transferred to their care plan for staff to access.

The report added: "Information regarding medicines was not always accurate which posed a risk staff would not know how to support people safely."

Concerns were also raised over recruitment as 11 staff were working without a verified DBS check and nine did not have any references.

Registered manager Georgina Farai Gweme assured inspectors staff would not be supporting people until their employment checks were received.

"It failed to ensure the safe care and treatment of people..."

The report also raised questions over management who did not always recognise safeguarding concerns and had not submitted reports to the CQC as required.

Despite this, people told inspectors "they felt safe and were comfortable to speak up if they had concerns" and "staff were kind, caring and knew them well."

Patients also said their wishes were respected and they were matched with appropriate staff such as if one had strong religious beliefs, their regular carer shared their faith.

PPE was also in high supply and was used safely.

Overall the service was rated "inadequate", placed back into special measures and two warning notices were issued as the provider "failed to ensure the safe care and treatment of people".

A notice of decision was also served requiring Hands of Compassion Care to send reports to the watchdog regarding mental capacity assessments, staff recruitment, training and competency.

Another action plan has been requested by the CQC to understand what will be done to improve the standards of quality and safety.

The service is to be kept under review and will be reinspected in six months time if the CQC decides not to cancel its registration.

If by then the Henley Close provider is still rated "inadequate", inspectors will begin the process of closing down the service.

Staff were supporting 10 people at the time of the CQC visit.

Hands of Compassion Care Ltd was contacted for comment but did not respond.