Provider ordered to pay £50,000 for running Eastbourne care service illegally, says CQC

A CQC spokesperson added: “The director of the service, Jane Lowe was fined a total of £10,000 after being found guilty of providing personal care and accommodation illegally after an eight-day trial.

“The company that runs the service Ivy House Day Centre Limited was also fined a total of £10,000.

“Both director and company were ordered to pay a total of £30,000 costs.”

The CQC said it brought the prosecution after it received information that Ivy House Day Centre Limited was providing the regulated activities of personal care between June 3, 2019, and February 24, 2020, and accommodation for persons requiring nursing or personal care between June 3, 2019, and October, 31, 2019, without being registered with the CQC to do so.

In order to protect people, it is a legal requirement for any provider of health and social care in England to be registered with CQC.

CQC deputy director of national enforcement Ros Sanderson said: “It is unacceptable that the provider and director of Ivy House Day Centre Limited risked people’s safety by running a care service without the benefit of CQC registration, so I welcome the guilty verdict.

“The registration process is important to appropriately assess services before they care for people. Services are then monitored and inspected to ensure that they continue to meet fundamental standards of care that everyone should be able to expect.

“Unregistered services operate without the benefit of our oversight, putting people at risk of harm.

“Monitoring of care services is especially important, as people who receive care can be particularly vulnerable because of their circumstances.

“When we find providers operating illegally, we do not hesitate to act to protect people.”

A spokesperson from Ivy House Day Centre Limited said: “In 2019 The Ivy Day Centre Ltd as a company leased a hotel to pilot its visionary ‘alternative respite’.”

They added: “This was open for four months at a premise unconnected to the day centre and received a handful of guests which all received exemplary care and support through testimony. As a point of clarification the quality of care given was not under scrutiny, only the fact that the care took place at the hotel was deemed wrongful as it was unregulated by the CQC. We would like to clarify that this has no bearing on the operating of the Ivy day centre itself as this is a separate entity, as it continues to provide award-winning care and support to its clients.”