Mega Resources Nursing & Care - Gloucestershire

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 registered 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 ensured all accidents and incidents were reported, investigated and any areas of learning or improvement were identified and shared with the staff team. Accident and incident recording was detailed and included dated outcomes with regular oversight.

Staff were confident in their knowledge on how to ensure the person they supported was safe and appropriate actions were taken. Staff confirmed they were given opportunities to debrief and discuss the incidents, providing suggestions of what could be improved to prevent further incidents and learning to improve future practice. 

People and their relatives told us any issues were managed and addressed in a timely manner and outcomes shared. One relative told us, “My [family member] is safe with the carers. Occasionally, they are delayed, but they always let us know.” Another said, “No complaints. Everything seems to be working well. On one occasion, my [family member’s] bed was not made. I spoke to the management and straight away they apologised and did not make the same mistake again.”

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.

There was a good approach to ensure people safely transferred into the service. The provider and staff prioritised people’s safety and continuity of care throughout their pathway between services. Stakeholder partners told us the provider had good communication and took action to ensure a smooth transition journey between services.

Time was taken to meet people and to understand their wishes and needs and how to support people to remain living in their own home. An initial assessment of people’s physical, emotional and social well-being was completed in collaboration with people’s relatives and health care professionals. The service worked with people’s relatives and carers to understand their needs and how staff could support people to enable relatives and carers to have a regular short respite break.

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.

Staff and managers had received appropriate safeguarding training and had a good understanding of their role and responsibility in ensuring people were kept safe from potential harm and abuse.Staff we spoke with told us,“The training covered safeguarding children and adults, including how to recognise the signs of abuse and neglect, how to report and maintain confidentiality” and “We have refresher training in safeguarding every year.”

Staff and managers had a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). They were knowledgeable about the importance of gaining lawful consent when providing personal care to people who were unable to make important decisions about their health and well-being.The Act provides a legal framework for making specific decisions on behalf of people who may lack the mental capacity to do so for themselves.

People and their relatives told us they felt safe. Comments included, “There are no safety concerns”,“My sister is safe with the care staff” and “We are happy and reassured that she is safe in the care of the staff.”

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 had been identified and clearly recorded.There was a strong approach in managing and monitoring people’s risks.People had bespoke and detailed risk assessments in place which provided staff with information about people’s personal support requirements and the support required to reduce and monitor their risks.

Risk assessments for individuals had good guidelines for staff,such as pictorial guidance in the form of a flow chart showing the correct procedure for using bedrails and a low profiling bed.Staff felt confident with actions they should take if a person was at risk or experienced an incident. One staff member told us,“I would report any concerns,unsafe working practices,or anything that may put a child or adult at risk.”

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

Risk assessments included consideration of people’s home environments and in the community to promote people’s safety, and safety of care staff. Staff raised no concerns about their working environment.

The provider carried out checks on the person’s home environment to identify any potential risks and how they could be reduced. Staff were trained to use the equipment people use in their homes such as hoists, mobility aids and profiling beds. A staff member told us,“I can find the Safe System of Work for each piece of equipment, the equipment risk assessment and the moving and handling plan.”

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.

Staff had been recruited safely including all the required pre-employment and legal checks. Staff received full support in terms of induction, on going supervision and professional development.During the recruitment process, potential new staff were measured against the service values to ensure they were a good fit with the overall vision of the service provision.

Staff we spoke with told us staffing levels were good, there were enough staff to meet the needs of the people they supported safely and effectively. They also told us there was a good camaraderie between staff, high morale and they were reliable and supportive.

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 were trained and competent in infection prevention and control. Staff had full access to plenty of required personal protective equipment (PPE). People and their relatives gave us good feedback. Comments included, “The care staff always wear appropriate PPE”,“They use the proper PPE” and “I am aware that they always use PPE.”

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 medicines as prescribed by staff who had been trained and assessed as competent in medicine administration.Medicines management remained a focus of discussion in staff meetings and one to one supervision to maintain awareness and remind the staff team of their responsibilities and processes in medicines management.

We saw people had body maps to show staff exactly where creams were to be applied on the body. Information about specific medicines and the side effects were available for staff guidance. Audits were thorough and regular with good levels of oversight in order to identify any errors in a timely manner. We gained positive feedback regarding people’s support when receiving their medicines. People and their relatives told us they were satisfied, there were no errors, administration was safe and any changes were reported.