Cams Ridge 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. The provider and legal entity have changed since our last inspection; this is the first assessment under the new provider. This key question has been rated 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 service 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 demonstrated they had a clear understanding of actions they would take following a safety event. Records showed safety events were reviewed. Where lessons learnt had been identified, the leadership team were responsive, they informed the team and implemented changes quickly. This reduced the risk of similar safety events happening. When the service received safety alerts from the government, they acted on them appropriately.

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 told us and records showed the transition into the service was effective, pre assessment covered a wide range of topics, and this was used to develop robust care plans that were shared with staff. We saw when a person was moving out of the service, their care needs, assessments, preferences and personal information were shared with the receiving service. This meant people’s needs and preferences were understood and this enabled the service to provide continuity of care.

The service 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 told us they felt safe and the provider had a robust safeguarding policy in place. Staff were able to describe types of abuse, signs abuse may be occurring and actions they would take if they suspected abuse was happening. Records showed that where suspected abuse had been reported, the service protected the person, completed internal investigations and reported the event to outside organisations such as the police, Local Authority and the Care Quality Commission. Any lessons learnt were shared with the team to prevent similar safeguarding events from occurring.

The service 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 and their relatives told us they were involved in identifying and mitigating any risks associated with their care, health and wellbeing. The service used nationally recognised tools to identify risks, these were completed accurately and were regularly reviewed. Risk assessments were in place; these informed care planning to ensure people's risks were safely managed.

The service did not always detect and control potential risks in the care environment. They did not always make sure equipment, and facilities supported the delivery of safe care.

There was a risk some fire doors may not be effective in the event of a fire because they had holes in them, visible gaps between the door and the frame and incomplete intumescent strips. The provider was responsive to our feedback and immediately planned to replace the fire doors. Some doors that needed to be kept locked were unlocked, this included cupboards containing hot water pipes, boilers and the sluice room. The provider was responsive to our concerns, on day 3 of our site visit, we saw new locks had been fitted and all doors were locked as required.

The Service had a regular refurbishment programme, and work was completed to a high standard. The home completed environmental health and safety checks and routine servicing of equipment. Staff we spoke with knew what action they would take in an emergency, 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.

Staff were recruited safely and in line with current legislation, staff had a thorough induction and completed training relevant to people’s needs. This meant people were supported by staff who had the knowledge, skills and values to support people effectively and safely.

People, their relatives and staff told us there were enough staff to meet people’s needs, call bells were answered promptly and staff did not appear to be rushed.

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.

The home was clean and free from malodour. Staff told us and we observed there was a good supply of cleaning materials and personal protective equipment. We saw staff cleaning, using the correct equipment, this helped prevent infections from developing and spreading.

The service 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.

Nurses were responsible for medicines management including, ordering, storage, administration, disposal and record keeping. Nurses demonstrated they had robust understanding of the safe use of medicines. Controlled medicines were stored appropriately. Stock levels were checked and updated when new stock arrived and counted prior to medicine being administered. We observed medicine’s being administered in accordance with people's preferences, needs and wishes.

Prior to this inspection, the provider had identified some guidance did not always include instructions for staff about when to administer some medicines. The leadership team was working with the local GP to update records and ensure more detailed information was available, to support staff with safer medicines administration.