Denewood House Care Home

On this page

• Overview
• Learning culture
• Safe systems, pathways and transitions
• Safeguarding
• Involving people to manage risks
• Safe environments
• Safe and effective staffing
• Infection prevention and control
• Medicines optimisation

Safe – this means we looked for evidence that people were protected from abuse and avoidable harm. At our last assessment we rated this key question as good. At this assessment the rating has remained as good. This meant people were safe and protected from avoidable harm.

This service scored 72 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider had a proactive and positive culture of safety, based on openness and honesty. Staff listened to concerns about safety and investigated and reported safety events. Lessons were learnt to continually identify and embed good practice.

We did not look at Safe systems, pathways and transitions during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

The provider worked with people and healthcare partners to understand what being safe meant to them and the best way to achieve that. Staff concentrated on improving people’s lives while protecting their right to live in safety, free from bullying, harassment, abuse, discrimination, avoidable harm and neglect. The provider shared concerns quickly and appropriately.

The provider worked with people to understand and manage risks by thinking holistically. Staff provided care to meet people’s needs that was safe, supportive and enabled people to do the things that mattered to them.

The provider detected and controlled potential risks in the care environment. They made sure equipment, facilities and technology supported the delivery of safe care.

The provider made sure there were enough qualified, skilled and experienced staff, who received effective support, supervision and development. They worked together well to provide safe care that met people’s individual needs.

We did not look at Infection prevention and control during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

The provider did not always make sure that medicines and treatments were safe and met people’s needs, capacities and preferences.

During our assessment we identified concerns around the management of people’s topical medicines and storage of medicines. Staff had not always accurately recorded the opening and expiry dates of topical medicines in line with the provider's medicine management procedures. This increased the risk of medicines being used beyond their recommended in-use period. Following our feedback, the management team responded promptly carrying out an immediate audit and introducing weekly topical medicines checks to improve monitoring and oversight.

The temperature of the cabinets and fridges where medicines were stored were monitored daily. However, these were not always within the acceptable range and temperatures in the cabinets consistently exceeded 25 degrees Celsius during summer months as a result of the prolonged heatwave weather. This meant some medications were not stored in line with the manufacturer’s instruction which increased the risk of active chemical ingredients breaking down, reducing the potency or making medicines less effective. The provider told us they were actively looking into alternative storage arrangements and purchasing an air conditioning unit.