The leadership of a Clydebank care provider has been told it must improve the way it recruits and trains its staff after a recent review by the Care Inspectorate.

Hand-On Homecare – which supports older people and adults with physical and sensory impairment living in their own homes - received a ‘weak’ rating on both its leadership and staff performance when the national regulator for care service in Scotland paid them a visit on three occasions in October.

Key to the report were the questions “how good is our leadership?’ and ‘how good is our staff team?’ - both of which received a two out of six rating on a scale of 1-6 - one being the lowest (unsatisfactory) and six being the highest (excellent).

On the staffing levels, the report reads: “We evaluated this key area as weak as while strengths could be identified in terms of staff practice these were compromised by significant weaknesses in processes within the service.

“We found significant gaps in the recruitment process and recruitment documentation. Key elements of the process were weak. For example, only one reference was sought at times, and this was not considered to be a safe recruitment process.

“We also found no interview documentation and were told that interviews were carried out by the provider on her own. This does not provide for a robust assessment process.”

The report goes on to find issues with new start training, with inductees shadowing more experienced staff over two days.

However, the Care Inspectorate believed this was fine in practice, but meant new members weren’t being trained in a "wider range of topics, such as falls prevention, in order that staff have the right skills and knowledge to provide the best support to people".

New starts also weren’t given any documentation setting out their new role or health and safety information.

It added: “Generally, staff training was basic and restricted to set topics which were taught online.

“There were gaps in the completion of identified mandatory training modules such as dementia awareness.

“There was no training provided in moving and handling and therefore people who used walking aids could not be supported safely by staff.

“We found that the number of topics that staff were trained on could be expanded to include topics such as diet and nutrition. This meant that staffs training wasn't adequate and needed improved in order to provide better outcomes for people.”

The Care Inspectorate put in place requirements for Hand-On Homecare to improve, such as two references being provided in future for new members, interviews to be carried out by two people and PVG checks to be completed before employment starts.

It also required the business to issue staff contracts and a description of roles and responsivities.

Hand-On Homecare have been approached for comment but as yet have not responded.