A HOME care provider has been asked to make improvements after inspectors graded its service as 'adequate'.

Karma Healthcare is based in Gourock and provides support to people in their own homes in Inverclyde, as well as North Ayrshire.

The assessment by the Care Inspectorate focused on how people's health and wellbeing are supported and safeguarded during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The virtual assessment was carried out remotely on March 10.

Inspectors looked at care and support, health and wellbeing, infection prevention and control, leadership and management.

Karma Healthcare has been told that staff must be trained in infection prevention and control using government guidelines, and that management must compile clear written records of staff training and evaluate staff practice in these measures.

On infection control, watchdogs found that staff had access to PPE when needed and it was part of induction training for new employees.

But this training was not Covid-19 specific and inspectors stated the latest guidance should be used for all staff training related to the virus.

They stated there was 'a significant gap' in the provider's 'lack of proper evaluation in relation to Covid-19 infection control measures'.

The report said: "Our discussions with staff indicated that not all staff were as familiar as they needed to be with donning, doffing and disposal of PPE.

"The provider needs to prioritise and implement methods of assessing how staff put infection control training into practice."

Inspectors did however receive positive feedback from people using the service and their relatives.

They spoke to 16 people who used the service and 10 relatives.

The report said people 'spoke very positively about the care and support' they received from Karma Healthcare staff who visited their home.

It said: "We spoke with clients and relatives who told us about kind and compassionate interactions between staff and the people they were supporting.

"Care staff were familiar with the choices and preferences of people living in the their care.

"Overall, people appeared content with their care and support."

The report added: "This was reflected in feedback from people that we spoke with and also from feedback from the commissioning Health & Social Care Partnership."

But inspectors noted problems at weekends and out of hours and said clients didn't always know which staff were coming and when.

The report stated: "These difficulties were compounded by inconsistent and occasionally abrupt communication from office-based staff.

"We shared this information with the provider at inspection feedback, who was already taking action to improve how staff responded to contact from clients and their representatives."

The report said: "A small number of people told us that communication from the staff based in Karma's office could be better, especially around changes to the service being provided.

"Comments about this included: 'They are very off-hand on the phone.'

"Communication with the family about changes needs to be improved."

The report noted that improvements had been made since the previous inspection report in October 2019.

One area of improvement - continuity of staffing - had been met since the previous inspection.

The report said: "People who used the service indicated that continuity of staffing was good.

"This meant that, overall, people were being cared for and supported by staff who knew them.

"However we have had feedback that scheduling staff are sometimes "stretched" at the weekend and out of hours.

"Staff say that office-based staff can be hard to get a hold of and relatives told us that communication from the office could be better."

The report added:"The provider acknowledged that there was room for further improvement at weekends and at times when regular staff were off duty."

Inspectors have now asked the company to include information about the impact of Covid-19 on people's care needs within personal plans or risk assessments.

In all of the areas looked at, the service was graded 3 - adequate.

The Telegraph contacted Karma Healthcare and invited them to comment on the report, but they did not provide any response.