Seven Hills Homecare

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 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. The provider had systems and processes in place to ensure lessons were learnt when things went wrong. Accidents and incidents were recorded and analysed to ensure future risks were mitigated.

The provider 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. Staff and leaders liaised with external professionals to ensure people received safe and appropriate care. For example, when people had a hospital stay, staff and leaders kept in touch with the hospital discharge team to facilitate any changes to people’s support and to ensure the care package was reinstated in readiness for people’s discharge from hospital.

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 had a safeguarding policy in place which guided staff in how to recognise and report abuse.

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. Risks associated with people’s care were identified and managed to keep people safe. For example, risks such as tissue viability, moving and handling and health conditions were all assessed and appropriate management plans put in place to mitigate risks and ensure people were supported safely. One family member said, “My relative is very safe and liking the care they are getting. The carers do all the personal care and at no stage has my relative said they were unsafe. They [the carers] stay with [relative] to aid them walking.” Another family member said, “The carers always check everything is alright and my relative is kept very clean.”

The provider detected and controlled potential risks in the care environment. They made sure equipment, facilities and technology supported the delivery of safe care. People had environmental risk assessments highlighting risks in relation to the care environment. This included risks outside the property such as ramps and access, and inside the home such as rugs and electric heaters. Where people required the use of equipment such as hoists and slings, these were maintained and serviced in line with the manufacturer’s requirements.

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. People were supported by staff who were recruited safely and were trained and competent to carry out their role effectively. Seven Hills’ staff training plan was linked to the providers aims and objectives and people’s needs. People and relatives told us they received calls at the time they expected and carers stayed for the allocated time. One family member said, “The carers do change from time to time, but it’s never anyone we have not seen before. I am happy with the continuity and all the carers are very obliging when I need anything done for my relative at the last minute.” Another family member said, “They [carers] are all committed to punctuality and always on time. We have had no hitches with reliability.”

The provider assessed and managed the risk of infection. They detected and controlled the risk of it spreading and shared concerns with appropriate agencies promptly. The provider had an infection prevention and control policy in place to ensure people were not at risk from cross infection. Leaders carried out spot checks to ensure staff wore appropriate personal protective equipment such as gloves and aprons. Leaders also checked that staff were competent in good hand hygiene and washed their hands thoroughly between care tasks.

The provider made sure that medicines and treatments were safe and met people’s needs, capacities and preferences. Staff involved people in planning, including when changes happened. However, we found people who had been prescribed medicines in a patch form did not have a patch rotation plan to ensure skin was not damaged by placing the patch in the same area. The registered manager took action to address this and put a patch rotation system in place. People who required medicines on an ‘as and when’ required basis had protocols in place to ensure they were administered safely. Staff received training in medicine administration and leaders checked staff competencies to ensure they had fully understood their learning and could administer medicines as prescribed. People told us they received their medicines on time. One person said, “I get my medicines regularly.”