A CARE agency has been ordered to improve after its latest inspection.

Premier Care Limited - Wigan, based on Market Street in Hindley, was given an overall rating of "requires improvement" by healthcare watchdog, the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

It was given a score of "good" in four out of five areas, its safety, effectiveness, responsiveness and whether it is caring.

But it was handed a ranking of "requires improvement" in the area of its leadership, in which a regulation breach was identified.

Inspectors said this was because "the provider had ineffective governance arrangements and failed to maintain an accurate, complete and contemporaneous record".

The report said: "Service management and leadership was inconsistent.

"Leaders and the culture they created did not always support the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care.

"Governance systems in place did not provide effective oversight and monitoring of the service to ensure people's care plans were reviewed and their care records were kept up to date.

"We looked at the care records for nine people and found regular or annual reviews of care plans were not undertaken for three people."

"The registered manager and co-ordinators carried out regular audits and 'spot checks', and an external service was also used to carry out an annual quality compliance check.

"However, these checks and audits failed to identify that documents implemented by the provider was being used incorrectly."

There were plenty of positive findings that the CQC found during the inspection though.

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The report states: "People were safe and protected from avoidable harm.

"Staff received appropriate safeguarding training.

"People's outcomes were consistently good, and feedback confirmed this.

"People were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care.

"Staff showed a good awareness of people's individual needs and preferences.

"People told us staff were kind, courteous and sensitive.

"People's needs were met through good organisation and delivery."

The inspection, which gave the care provider 24 hours notice, took place on April 24 and 25 and the report was published on June 27.

A Premier Care spokesman said: "We are pleased that in four out of five areas the service was rated as Good.

"The vast majority of the findings described in the report demonstrate a good service that is delivering safe and effective care, and responds well to people’s needs.

"This is a credit to the registered manager and all the staff in the branch.

"There was only one critical finding, which resulted in the service being found 'requires improvement' overall.

"The inspector found that three people had not had an annual review of their care plan.

"This was out of a total of 299 clients in all at the time of the inspection.

"They also found that some reviews had been recorded on the wrong (but similar) paperwork.

"We argued that it was disproportionate to find a breach of a regulation based on this finding.

"We are very disappointed that the CQC insisted this was a breach, and as a result the service is rated as 'requires improvement' overall.

"Premier Care operates a system of annual reviews and spot checks of all care files.

"The system flags up when an annual review is due, but those three care plans were still awaiting a review.

"There are however other ways in which we identify if a person’s needs have changed.

"We always respond to people’s needs regardless of an annual review.

"Needless to say, we do not accept the statement in the summary: 'we found the governance systems used did not provide effective oversight and monitoring of the service'.