MORE than 160 Swindon dependents are receiving care from an agency which has been slammed by the health watchdog and put into special measures.

Allied Healthcare Swindon was inspected on April 13 by Care Quality Commission (CQC) representatives who found the service was unsafe, unresponsive and poorly-led.

The home care agency, which is based out of Apsley House in Royal Wootton Bassett, was also failing to meet basic standards in effectiveness and level of care.

Allied Healthcare describes itself on its website as the UK’s biggest home care provider and says how good home care can make a real difference to people’s lives, on its website.

However, staff at its Swindon branch, who support 167 people in the community, have said weekends working for the company are nightmarish and they are not proud to work for Allied.

In a report published last week, CQC revealed Allied Swindon was not always notifying the authority of incidents under its watch, regularly missed home visits and poorly managed its patients’ medicine.

In failing to meet the five standards expected of it, Allied has been branded inadequate and formally placed into special measures. The purpose of this is to ensure standards improve, enable CQC to use its enforcement powers and create a timeframe by which improvements must be made.

In finding the agency unsafe, the report said: “Care staff told us they felt pressured and visits were scheduled too close together.

“Comments included: ‘You can’t catch up without compromising the client. Weekends are a nightmare, they don’t give you any time.’”

Patient care reviews were also criticised by inspectors, which were found to be so infrequent that patients were suffering as a result.

The report said: “Some people told us they did not have reviews. One person told us: ‘Haven’t had one for ages, it has not been looked at since 2013.’ One relative told us: ‘No, and [relative] has gone downhill.’”

Elsewhere, it was revealed staff admitted people were at risk of unsafe care.

“Staff advised us that many care plans were out of date and they referred to the daily records for information relating to a person’s needs. This put people at risk of unsafe care,” the report said.

In addressing the leadership of the organisation, inspectors said: “One staff member told us: ‘There have been a lot of changes with management. Managers leaving unsettles things.’ Care staff told us they enjoyed their work.

“However, one member of care staff told us: ‘I don’t feel proud to work for Allied.’”

The provider carried out an annual customer survey. The outcome of the 2015 survey showed areas for improvement.

There were no actions identified as a result of the survey or dates by which improvements would be made, according to inspectors.

Allied declined to comment when approached by the Adver today, but the report did address some improvements.

“The management team told us improvements to systems were being made. A system to enable visits to be closely monitored was being introduced and staff were being trained to use it,” inspectors said.

“The management team told us communication with care staff was being improved. Weekly memos were being sent out with rotas. We saw copies of three memos that had been sent out. Some care staff we spoke with told us communication was improving."

“Care staff received regular spot checks. These were carried out unannounced and enabled the provider to monitor the quality of care delivery.”

Allied provides respite, companion, live-in, elderly, nursing and enablement care for its service users.