Supported living provider Baobab Care rated inadequate

A Birmingham care provider that supports people with learning disabilities and mental health conditions has been placed in special measures after inspectors found "basic checks simply weren't happening".

Baobab Care UK Limited, based on Alcester Street in Digbeth, provides supported living and personal care to people in their own homes, including people with learning disabilities, substance misuse problems and mental health conditions. The Care Quality Commission has downgraded it from good to inadequate after an inspection in July.

What inspectors found

The service was supporting 16 people with personal care at the time. Inspectors found it had breached six regulations, covering safe care and treatment, safeguarding, staffing, fit and proper persons employed, person-centred care and overall management.

• More than 20 staff started work without the criminal record checks needed to confirm they were safe, and some carried out unsupervised visits for months.
• Medicines were not always managed safely, and there was no record of what had been prescribed for some people.
• Some homes were dirty, damaged and hard to keep clean, and fire risks had not been properly assessed. Urgent work identified by fire risk assessments had not been done, and inspectors referred the service to the fire service.
• Several safeguarding concerns had not been recognised or reported to the council, and the service had not always followed up when people went missing for long periods.
• One person's care plan still listed medication they no longer took, and another was left without the extra support their condition now needed.

Amanda Lyndon, the CQC's deputy director of adult social care for the region, said leaders "had lost sight of the risks people faced every day". When people or families complained, she said, "they often weren't listened to, and some told us they'd simply given up complaining".

Inspectors did find that staff usually knew people well and had built trusting relationships with them.

The provider responds

Stanley Matawa, Baobab Care's director, said he accepted the findings and was taking them "extremely seriously".

"We recognise that certain standards fell below expectations and fully accept our responsibility to address these shortcomings," he said. He said the company had begun a comprehensive improvement programme, strengthening management, fire safety, safeguarding, medicines management and safer recruitment.

"Public confidence cannot be restored through words alone," he said. "It requires transparency, accountability and demonstrable action."

What special measures means

A service placed in special measures is inspected again within six months. If it has not improved enough, the CQC can take further action, which can include stopping it from operating. People who use the service, or their families, who have concerns can contact the CQC or Birmingham City Council's adult social care team.