A HOWLEY care service has been ordered to improve following an inspection.

Smart Care Services NW Ltd, based on Parkdale Industrial Estate on Wharf Street, was visited by the Care Quality Commission in July.

And the agency has been told to improve by inspectors, who found one breach of health and social care regulations.

The service, which provided care for 147 elderly people living in their own homes at the time of the unannounced inspection, was rated as good in four of five areas.

But Smart Care Services was told to improve its leadership, leading it to be rated as requiring improvement overall.

The CQC’s report said: “Quality assurance and governance systems were not effectively in place.

“Audits and checks were not assessing, monitoring or identifying areas of improvement that were needed.

“We found care plan and risk assessment audits to be ineffective, records and documentation were not appropriately completed and processes to gauge feedback needed to be developed.”

However, the CQC also noted that service users ‘received a holistic level of care which supported their overall health and wellbeing’ and gave ‘positive feedback’.

Smart Care Services was undergoing its first inspection by the CQC since the agency was registered in April last year.

Cheryl Owens, operations manager at Smart Care Services, said: “As a new care provider, we are thrilled with our first CQC inspection report.

“Our mission has always been to provide quality, cost-effective, bespoke care to the people of Warrington – we want to make a difference and help to change the face of care in our local community.

“We are a small family-run care provider and have always maintained a personal approach – we have now improved how we capture and record information in a more detail way.

“We will continue to strive for excellence.”