A home care service has been rated inadequate after a member of staff 'stole from a person in their care.'

Inspectors found the old and vulnerable people looked after by Care at Home Newbury Ltd, which operates in Reading, were "not adequately protected from the risk of harm or abuse."

Large gaps existed in electronic medical records and care staff arrived at people’s homes at inconsistent times, Care Quality Commission (CQC).

One service user’s care plan included no information to instruct staff on how to provide catheter care and prevent the person acquiring an infection through their catheter, inspectors said.

READ MORE: Reading rallies around families left homeless by 'ferocious' fire

“We were incredibly concerned to find neither the provider or the manager had any oversight of the service, which meant people weren’t being cared for safely and were at risk of harm,” said Rebecca Bauers, CQC’s head of inspection for adult social care.

“We were told the police were carrying out an investigation after a staff member had stolen from a person in their care. The provider should have informed CQC about the incident, but they hadn’t done so.

“They should also have carried out their own investigation into the incident, and taken action to ensure it wouldn’t happen again, but they hadn’t done anything to protect people.”

Care at Home Newbery manager Avril Welch said she thought the company had done their best.

READ MORE: Hunt for man after death threats, stalking and assault in Reading

“At the time it was all dealt through the police and they were dealing with and it got really complicated. Yes we should have informed them [CQC] and we know in future. We’ve never had this before, it’s never happened. We’ve always had good ratings."

She continued: “He did resign once he got arrested anyway.”

The manager said: “It made me actually sick that somebody can do that to be honest with you. I don’t condone anything like that.”

Addressing concerns over one resident's catheter, she said that the company's carers go into people’s homes knowing what to do, “but if it’s not in the care plan then that’s something that’s got to be added.”

She added: “They’ve updated the system now and put a lot more detail into it.”

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, which provide information about convictions and cautions held on the Police National Computer, were not included in four staff files reviewed, according to the CQC.

Mrs Welch said: “The DBS were all done. Every single one of them – I’ve got them online.”

“When a DBS comes through, it comes up with a registration number, date it’s issued and everything else which is what I’ve got on my computer – but what they [CQC] want is a hard copy of the DBS."

She continued: “I thought I was compliant, so now, in future, what we do when they update it [is] we ask them [staff] for it, we take a copy and we stick it in a file.

“We’re making sure that we cover both ends now.”

She said: “Yes we did fail in the fact that things weren’t done but in the last two years we’ve been fighting this pandemic and looking after the clients and whichever way I look at it, I think we’ve done our best.”

“We are getting there and I think next time we have an inspection it’s going to be a lot better.”