My Homecare Bournemouth

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. This is the first assessment for this service. This key question has been rated good.This meant people were safe and protected from avoidable harm.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

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

People were supported by a service who continually sought to share learning and improve. Accidents and incidents were recorded, and many steps had been taken to ensure people remained as safe as possible. The registered manager told us they were keen to identify themes and be proactive in sharing events and learning from the service.

The service worked with people and healthcare partners to establish and maintain safe systems of care, in which safety was managed or monitored. They made sure there was continuity of care, including when people moved between different services.

People were supported with contact from external health professionals as required, such as the GP. Relationships between the service and external professionals were established and operating effectively, feedback collected during the inspection was positive. There were safe systems in place to ensure essential information was shared with the necessary health and social care professionals. The service had produced a summary of people’s needs and requirements. The ‘hospital passport’ document meant a safe transition between services, such as, for admission to hospital.

The service worked with people and healthcare partners to understand what being safe meant to them and the best way to achieve that. They 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 service shared concerns quickly and appropriately.

People felt safe in the care they received from My Homecare Bournemouth. Staff understood how to raise concerns and felt confident the registered manager would act immediately. Safeguarding records were legible and accurate. The registered manager had made all necessary statutory notifications to CQC as required by law. A notification is information a provider sends to CQC to notify us of events which occur within their service.

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

People were supported with positive risk taking. Staff told us they had enough information to understand and work with people to reduce the risks they faced in their daily lives. Risk assessments were clear and information on how staff should work to reduce the risks to people were clear. Staff had access to all relevant information through the providers electronic care planning system.

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

People were supported to maintain their environment. Risk assessments were carried out by the registered manager to ensure they were safe from hazards within their environment. This had included how to support a person to leave their home in an emergency. Staff told us the information was easily accessible to support them to keep people safe.

The service 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.

People were supported by enough staff to ensure their needs were met. The registered manager assessed people’s needs and matched them with staff who could best support them. The registered manager said, “I get to know the people we support, know their needs and personalities. I carefully match these to the most suitable staff for them; I continually monitor this.” A health and social care professional told us, “The registered manager was careful to spend the first few weeks of my client’s care doing the hands-on care themself so that he could be sure on how to direct the team going forward.” The provider used an electronic rostering and monitoring system, enabling them to ensure visits to people were on time and to alert them if there was a delayed visit. This meant the registered manager and provider had continual oversight of people’s care.

The service assessed and managed the risk of infection. They detected and controlled the risk of it spreading and shared concerns with appropriate agencies promptly.

People were protected from avoidable infections as staff were trained and worked in safe hygienic ways. Infection prevention and control systems were robust. Staff told us they had received training and had enough supplies of gloves and aprons to enable them to maintain good infection control. A member of staff said, “Gloves, aprons and masks are available, and I can collect supplies from the office.”

The service made sure that medicines and treatments were safe and met people’s needs, capacities and preferences. They involved people in planning, including when changes happened.

People received their medicines as prescribed. There were safe procedures in place for ordering and administration of medicines. Care plans correctly reflected the level of support a person required with their medicines. People were confident they received their medicines on time and records reflected this. Medicines records were held on an electronic system; this meant they were updated as changes were made. Alerts from the system informed the registered manager if a medicine was late, or not given, action was then taken to support compliance. Audits and checks were undertaken to identify any patterns or concerns. Staff received training, both theory and practical together with competency checks, to ensure safe practices with medicines. A medicines policy was in place which underpinned practice within the service.