A Leavesden-based healthcare service has been rated as 'requires improvement' by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

A report was published for Hertfordshire Supported Living Services yesterday (Tuesday, December 5) following inspections of the Cheshire Drive location on October 30 and November 8.

Hertfordshire Supported Living Services provides support to people with a learning disability and autism. Three people were using the service at the time of inspection.

The CQC's report found that "the provider did not operate a safe recruitment procedure" and that risk assessments "did not always identify how to mitigate the risks".

Watford Observer: The supported living service is based at 25 Cheshire Drive, LeavesdenThe supported living service is based at 25 Cheshire Drive, Leavesden (Image: Google Maps)

The report also stated that "medicines administration records were not always completed accurately" and that "in some circumstances, they (managers) had not identified the areas of improvement, such as staff completing learning disability training, recruitment files and medicine administration records".

Along with these negatives, the CQC's report did identify positives for the provider, such as the centre's manager showing "a good understanding" of the people they supported.

The investigation continued: "People said they were encouraged to be as independent as they can with their medicines and staff supported them when required.

"People described that they had a good life, and they were able to do as they wished, however, in some circumstances the care plans could be developed further to capture people's long term aspirations and what was important to them."

Overall, three of the five factors in which the service was assessed were rated as 'good', these included 'effective', 'caring' and 'responsive'.

However, the service was rated as 'requires improvement' in the 'safe' and 'well-led' categories.

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A spokesperson for Origin Housing, which runs Hertfordshire Supported Living Services, said: "We were concerned to receive the 'requires improvement' from the CQC report.

"The inspection was on October 30 and November 8, and following initial feedback at the visit we have already started to put actions into place to address some of the areas of concern.

"We received the final report on December 4, and will now be completing a detailed action plan in response to the findings  and  recommendations in the report.

"We take the care of our residents very seriously and ensure that we put their individual care needs at the heart of our support."