A Mansfield homecare service user said they were left in bed for an average of 15 hours by carers. The person made the claim to a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspector, who rated Jigsaw Homecare as 'inadequate'.
The service, which supports 124 people in their own homes, has been placed in special measures as a result of the inspection carried out in February. However the manager of the service says many of the claims are "not true".
In the report a service user said: "They are not coming at the correct times, I am left in bed for an average of 15 hours, I have let them know, they say they haven't got the staff. They put me in bed at 6.30pm when I'd prefer to go to bed at 8pm."
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A relative added: "Sometimes the bedtime call is really early, mum likes the bedtime call at 7pm, but it is often early, they have done the bedtime call at 4pm." Jayne Wagstaff, manager at the agency, said that the accusations were "not true", saying the report included a number of "unsubstantiated claims".
She told Nottinghamshire Live: "You always get disgruntled service users complaining about timings of calls. Through Covid can you find one organisation that can deliver timings perfectly? We've never missed one." Ms Wagstaff said that the service had investigated the statement of a person being put to bed at 4pm and found there was no documentation of this happening.
"If a service user was in bed for 15 hours it would be at the request of themselves or a family member to say they had fatigue or were ill," she said. "We don't put people to bed for 15 hours."
The CQC also said it found evidence of a "culture that significantly disregarded the needs of people" at a management level and pointed out that there were gaps in the training of staff. "Care was not planned to meet people's specific needs. People and their relatives had very little input," the report reads.
However, Ms Wagstaff said that the health watchdog had "absolutely" not properly factored the effects of Covid into its inspection. "It had a huge impact and it still does," she said. "It's still around and it was only one month ago that we had nine staff off with it. We're putting our lives and families at risk but no-one's giving us respect for that."
She added: "Jigsaw pride themselves on a safe delivery of service to all who access care and support. We are currently working hard to retrieve the 'good' status we have displayed since 2000."
A spokesperson for the CQC said it was "mindful" of the impact of Covid and took into account the "exceptional circumstances" when considering what enforcement action was necessary. "We identified breaches in relation to staffing, safeguarding, risk management, medicines and how the service is managed at this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed," they said.
