Golden Hands Home Care Colchester rated inadequate by the CQC

The Care Quality Commission has dropped the rating for OFFICE, known as Golden Hands Home Care, from requires improvement to inadequate.

The business, based in North Hill, Colchester, is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people with a physical disability or sensory impairment.

It has now been put into special measures to protect people following the damning inspection in June.

Inspection - Golden Hands Home Care is based in North Hill, Colchester (Image: Newsquest)

Hazel Roberts, CQC deputy director of operations in the east of England, said: “We were very disappointed to find a service that wasn’t responsive to people’s needs.

“[They were] carrying out care in a way that was convenient for staff and not for the people using the service.

“It was worrying that we saw signs of a closed culture, with people being told not to talk about safeguarding incidents and not feeling safe to raise complaints.

“One person told us they’d be frightened to make a complaint as they liked their current carer and didn’t want to risk being removed from their current set up.”

Poor service - customers had become 'accustomed to poor care' (Image: Newsquest)

The report, published today, revealed people had become “accustomed to poor care as it had become normalised.”

One person said even though they were incontinent, they would not phone the office for help if they soiled themselves as they “knew they wouldn’t send anyone”.

Others said despite being asked to state a preferred gender of their carer, this was routinely not accommodated.

“However, most people told us they felt safe, as the care workers were friendly and pleasant, but felt the company had too many clients and not enough staff, “ added Ms Roberts.

“We’ll continue to monitor the service closely to ensure significant improvements are made and won’t hesitate to take further action if we’re not assured people are receiving the safe and dignified care that they deserve.”

The provider’s director Bien Causapin said any complaints made by its clients are raised “straight away” and hit out at the report.

He said: “The claim we tell people not to talk about safeguarding incidents is not true at all.

“We always get statements from people involved in the safeguarding and make sure it is transparent.”

Mr Causapin said the inspector stating people have become “accustomed to poor care” was unfair, adding: “I can assure the CQC that the service users environment and care is not poor at all.”

He admitted there are times where service users are asked to wait “an hour or so” for help but said the importance of attending incontinence-based incidents is not understated.

The director said he has sent anonymous letters to his clients so they can voice any thoughts without fear of comeback.

He added: “I look forward to the next CQC visit to show them the improvements that are made and are currently being put in place.”