North Short Term and Urgent Support Team

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 requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to 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.

Staff consistently looked at how they could learn lessons from events and make positive improvements to the service. Staff and leaders were open and honest and acted with integrity. There were systems in place to investigate and learn lessons from an incident and minimise the risk of future similar incidents reoccurring.

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 had a close working relationship with health partner organisations. People benefitted from this close working relationship as it facilitated quick discharges from hospital because they were provided with the right level of support in place. There were weekly meetings between staff and community based health staff to share information and agree plans. One visiting professional told us, “The working relationship is going really well, and it works well being in the same building. We work very closely and we have a weekly team meeting. We can speak with staff and leaders easily and have good partnership working.” Leaders had good quality links with their counter parts within health organisations, which enabled them to quickly organise the right support for the person.

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.

People were protected from the risk of abuse or neglect. Staff were trained in safeguarding, and they knew their role and responsibilities in reporting any concerns. Leaders were proactive, visible and responsive to any concerns which were raised. The service worked closely with the Local Authority to escalate safeguarding allegations to protect the person.

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.

People were actively involved and consulted in managing risks. Leaders were aware of risks and had mechanisms in place to ensure staff could be flexible and responsive to a sudden change in the person’s support need. Risk assessments were in place to identify the risks people may experience and there was practical guidance for staff to follow in the event of an incident occurring. One relative told us, “They put so much detail on that form [risk assessments and care plans] that if someone new came I was confident that my relative was in safe hands. I asked to look at one of their forms one day and they were bang on with what they had done to the minute. I was really impressed.”

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 ensured the environment was safe for staff to work in. Locality managers were actively involved in the assessment of people’s home, and they ensured it was safe for staff to work in and safe for the person following their period of poor health. Risks were assessed and discussed with the staff team to ensure they could safely provide support without posing risk of harm to themselves. People were actively involved and consulted in environmental risk assessments.

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.

There were enough staff to provide safe care. Due to the nature of the service providing reablement support, staff often had lengthy visits, which aimed to support people regain their skills and independence. One leader told us, “I have a varied role which includes taking the lead in training and I make sure training is kept up to date. It is so important to make sure staff are supported and they have the right skills and training.” Leaders were skilled in managing their flexible approach to ensure people receive the support they needed. The provider had an effective system in place to monitor staff whereabouts and monitor for lateness or changes to the rota.

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.

Staff worked to minimise the risk of infection transmission. Staff were trained in infection, prevention and control best practices. Staff wore personal protective equipment (PPE) and safely disposed of this. Leaders did random spot checks and sought feedback from people to ensure staff were wearing the right PPE at the right times.

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.

People received their medication safely. Staff were trained in medication administration and the provider had systems in place to accurately record when staff needed to administer medication and make a clear record of this. People had the right documentation in place to ensure staff knew when to give medication and why. This included medication which was to be administered ‘when required’. Staff were skilled and competent in safely administering medication.