Care firm left 'person to eat without false teeth'

A care agency that allegedly left one of its clients to eat without their false teeth has been rated inadequate and placed in special measures.

My Homecare Reading and Bracknell was said to have "brushed off" relatives of people who use the service if they raised concerns, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) report found.

Amy Jupp, the CQC's deputy director for the South East, said inspectors found that its leaders "didn't understand their responsibilities or the basic principles of providing safe support".

The company, which was providing care for 25 people when it was inspected in August and September, was approached to comment.

The CQC said it found seven breaches of regulations and rated four of the five areas it inspected as inadequate. The other was rated requires improvement.

A relative of one service user complained that training for staff appeared to be "non-existent", while another said "one or two" appeared to be well qualified but others needed more guidance.

Records showed "insufficient evidence" that all staff hired were of good character and safe to work with people.

Another relative said the service appeared to treat its employees "appallingly" and that they "simply [didn't] have enough time to get from one patient to another".

While the inspectors were told: "A couple of times [carers] don't even put [person's] teeth in and have left [person]. That means [person] has eaten without [their] teeth in."

It was the first time My Homecare Reading and Bracknell had been visited by the CQC.

A predecessor, My Homecare Reading, was visited in 2022 and was also rated inadequate.