The manager of a domestic care and support services agency has been
fined £1,800 by magistrates at Cheltenham in Gloucestershire.
The Care Quality Commission brought the prosecution against Mrs
Kathryn Hopkins, of Tidswell Close in Quedgeley as manager of Care and
Domestic Services South West Ltd.
Mrs Hopkins pleaded guilty on Monday 7 June to a charge of managing a
domiciliary care agency while unregistered between January 2008 and
February 2009. By law agencies offering personal care, such as
feeding, bathing and toileting to people who need assistance in their
own homes, must be registered so that they can be inspected to ensure
they comply with national standards.
The court heard that Care and Domestic Services provided personal
care to two women in their own homes in Gloucestershire. In both cases
the company’s employees provided personal care to the women – although
Mrs Hopkins told the court that she had not instructed any of her staff
to provide personal care.
Care and Domestic Services South West Ltd was dissolved in October
2009.
The court ordered Mrs Hopkins to pay £1,500 toward the Commission’s
legal costs. A new system of registration is currently being
introduced by the Care Quality Commission with new essential standards
of quality and safety across all health and adult social care services
in England. Providers of adult social care must be registered under
the new system from 1 October 2010, with their registration under the
Care Standards Act 2000 continuing until then.
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