AN “inadequate” rated domiciliary care service based in Oldham placed in special measures two years ago for multiple breaches of regulations has been told it must make “significant improvements” in the next six months or face closure.

Since the inspection by the Care Quality Commission in February, 2018, Italia House, based in Pass Street, Oldham, has failed to make enough progress to be taken out of special measures, a report said.

The latest inspection, from January 20 to February 3, scrutinised the care by the registered manager and another member of staff one person who needed help with hygiene and eating.

Inspectors said: “We have been unable to allocate a rating to our key questions to give an overall rating as there was insufficient service history and evidence for us to form a judgement.”

It went on: “Relatives of the person were happy with the support provided by Italia House. Care plans contained some information about the person's preferences, medical history and support needs. Some risk assessments were in place.

“However, there were no risk assessments for key areas, such as mobility and accessing the community.

“No new staff had been employed since our last inspection, so we were unable to review recruitment procedures or staff induction.

“The majority of care was provided by the registered manager. One other person carried out support visits. They had completed refresher training in a variety of relevant subjects.

“We were unable to assess how medicines were managed, as no one was receiving support with medicines.

“Staff had been trained in infection prevention and control and had the appropriate personal protective equipment, such as gloves and aprons, to wear when carrying out personal care tasks. The service had not received any complaints.”

Recommendations had previously been made on about how the service manages people's communication needs, it said.

People were helped to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

The registered manager liaised with health professionals. However, other partnership working was limited.

The report continues: “The last rating for this service was inadequate (report published May 24, 2018) and there were multiple breaches of regulations.

“The provider completed an action plan after the inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection not enough improvement had been made and the provider was still in breach of regulations.

“This means we will keep the service under review and, if we do not propose to cancel the provider's registration, we will re-inspect within six months to check for significant improvements.

“If the provider has not made enough improvement within this timeframe, and there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall rating, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures.

“This will mean we will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service. This will usually lead to cancellation of their registration or to varying the conditions the registration. For adult social care services, the maximum time for being in special measures will usually be no more than 12 months.

“If the service has demonstrated improvements when we inspect it and it is no longer rated as inadequate for any of the five key questions, it will no longer be in special measures.

“This service had been in special measures since May 2018. At this inspection we have been unable to provide a rating for the service, due to lack of evidence and insufficient service history. The service therefore remains in special measures.”

A spokesperson from Oldham Council told The Oldham Times: “This provider delivered limited services on behalf of the council for a six week period from mid December, 2017 until the end of January, 2018, at which point the council decommissioned them, and transferred care to other providers.

"The council has not commissioned any services from this provider since that time and would not do so in the future.”

Italia House is run by a company called Passion Carers Ltd. Its registered secretary and director is Charlton Rusere, 46, whose address at Companies House is Lichfield Road in Sheffield.

The company was incorporated in May, 2017. Mr Rusere was unavailable for comment.