INSPECTORS have told an Andover care provider its service ‘requires improvement’ for the second time in just over a year.

Enham Trust, in Enham Alamein, recently welcomed the Care Quality Commission for an unannounced visit to assess the service at three of its residential care homes.

Inspectors found that three regulations were not being met, with concerns raised over mental capacity assessments, management of medicines and people’s care records.

It comes after the service, which covers Michael, Elizabeth and William House, was given a ‘requires improvement’ ratings in March, last year, after a visit two months earlier.

Then, the service was deemed to be below par in two of the five categories assessed. This time it fell short in four of the five categories.

The report noted: “Medicines were not safely managed, and people were at risk of harm as a result. This was a breach of regulations.”

It added: “Mental Capacity Act 2005 information on support plans was confused. Additional work was needed to complete MCA assessments and best interest decisions to support current practice.”

Inspectors also found that “the service was not always well-led” and there was a “continuing breach of regulations due to a lack of oversight of peoples support plans which, due to the lack of accuracy within them, posed a risk of harm.”

However, individual feedback revealed that the service was responsive to people’s needs.

Users of the service told inspectors they felt in control of their lives, received person-centred support and were encouraged to make choices about day-to-day things themselves.

Heath Gunn, CEO of Enham Trust, has shared his disappointment at the rating but praised staff for the way they have responded to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

He told the Advertiser: “Enham Trust is disappointed by its recent overall rating of Requires Improvement from the CQC following an inspection of its three residential care homes.

“We are working hard to embed the learning from this recent report and to ensure quality of our services for our clients, and will keep the CQC updated of our progress.

“We believe we are delivering good personalised care that is responsive to individual’s needs, our staff are respectful of dignity and go the extra mile as confirmed by the report.

“During the current coronavirus pandemic, our staff have been truly selfless in their roles keeping the vulnerable people in our care services safe and well, and we are proud of the way we have responded as an organisation to this crisis.”