Alice House

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 the assessment in September 2024 we rated this key question inadequate. At this assessment, the rating remains inadequate. This meant some aspects of the service were not always safe.

This assessment has shown the provider has met the requirements of the warning notice served in relation to safeguarding. The breaches of regulation regarding safe care and treatment, staffing, and recruitment were not reviewed during this assessment and will be reviewed at our next assessment.

This service scored 34 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Whilst most relatives told us the service had improved, we received some mixed feedback about aspects of the service. We spoke to relatives and asked if they were made aware if their family member had fallen or been involved in any incidents. We received the following comments, “The staff ring if there are any incidents, they haven’t had falls but ring if they get angry, so I know what is going on, they have discussions, they are looking at what causes this” and “Yes, I had a call about three weeks ago. They had a bruise”.

We spoke to relatives about the leadership of the service. They were complimentary overall about the new manager, but also aware ongoing improvements were being made to the service. One relative told us, “Things are better, the manager sat with us for over an hour, wanted to know about their past interests. I used to ask to see the manager and raised things, but they were never resolved. Now the new manager says she is happy to see us and phone anytime”, “I feel more confident in the new manager in the home, they are more receptive. When I need an answer, they are less dismissive. Some changes are being made. It seems to be good” and “There is a new management team. I do not know the name of the manager I have met her, nice lady. I have no issues with her. I would go to her.”

Relatives felt people were safe living at the service. Their comments included, “I am 90% happy with the care they get. There are concerns with regards to falling and bruising. I am led to believe, there is a pressure mat that activates an alarm”, “I do feel they are safe and well looked after. I did not have concerns before, there are a few things which are better. There were certain residents that were posing a risk, and they are no longer in the home” and “Yes, it is safe, I haven’t any concerns, when you visit everything seems nice.”

Some relatives told us communication could be improved and raised concerns about lost property. Comments included, “Communication is not great, they would phone me up when something happened, but not so much now”,” The only issue is the communication, the carers need to understand so they can provide the correct support”, “I feel a bit disappointed in the lack of communication. I think it has not got any better, it has got worse” and “We lost some items, we have not had any correspondence.”

We observed positive interactions; staff were attentive to people’s needs. The atmosphere in the service was calm and friendly.

Improvements had been made to safeguarding practice and procedures. At the last assessment, people were not consistently kept safe, from the potential risk of harm. Systems and processes to ensure people were protected from abuse and neglect were not effective or consistently used.

At this assessment, we found incident records were being reviewed and signed off by the manager. Action was taken to report and investigate concerns and identify trends. Incident records contained information about the event and follow up actions taken. Body maps were being completed where people had fallen and sustained an injury.

Where people had demonstrated distressed behaviours and been involved in altercations with others, comprehensive risk assessments were in place to manage the risk and guide staff. The manager told us they were in the process of reviewing people’s care plans and risk assessments, as part of the services ongoing improvement plan.

Staff we spoke with had a good awareness of safeguarding procedures, including how to report any concerns. Staff told us safeguarding concerns were being managed effectively. One staff member told us, “Yes, it seems much better, we have less incidents, due to some residents moving to other homes. I know they are being monitored now.”

Since the last assessment the number of people living at the service, had reduced, some people had moved to other services and there had been no new admissions. Changes had been made to support staff to improve monitoring people’s wellbeing, staff on duty were allocated to oversee groups of people each shift. Staff told us this had been working well as they were able to have a greater oversight of people.