A CARE provider has been told it ‘requires improvement’ by the Care Quality Commission for the third consecutive time.
Care 4 U, based at St Martin’s House on Barnsley Road, Wath, is a domiciliary care service registered to provide personal care for people living in their own homes in the community.
They provide support to people with a range of different needs including older people, people with dementia and people with physical disabilities.
At the time of the assessment 30 people were using the service who were receiving the regulated activity of personal care.
At its previous inspection in December bosses were told that the service requires improvement and, although some improvements have been made, it has not been upgraded by the health watchdog.
A report states: “The service had a targeted inspection in December 2025 and was previously rated requires improvement overall, with a breach of regulation 17 relating to good governance.
“At this inspection some improvements were identified in relation to record keeping however concerns were also identified in relation to safeguarding and managing complaints.
“The service remains in breach of regulation 17, a breach of regulation 13 in relation to safeguarding was identified, the service has been rated requires improvement overall.
“CQC could not be assured that recruitment was always completed safely, as some gaps in recruitment records were found.
“Although steps were taken following the assessment to mitigate the risks associated with this, processes in place at the service had not been effective in preventing issues arising.
“Safeguarding concerns were not reported in line with current expectations and investigations and complaints handling were not completed in line with the providers processes.
“Risks associated with infection control and the care environment were well managed.
“Medicines were managed safely and records relating to medicines were regularly monitored.
“People and their relatives were involved in creating care plans, these were clearly documented and reviewed when required.
“Staff understood how to seek consent from people prior to providing care and care records evidenced the service understood how to work within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (2005).
“Although the services record keeping practices had improved from the last inspection, there remained areas for improvement.
“Roles and responsibilities within the management team were not always clear, complaints were not well managed, and the provider had failed to refer a safeguarding incident to the local authority safeguarding team and CQC in line with expectations.”
