Blossom Home Care London Borough of Sutton

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 newly 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.

There had not been any incidents or accidents since the service started operating. However, there were comprehensive systems in place to report, record and investigate any concerns that arose to ensure they were acted upon and learnt from.

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 closely involved people and their family in care decisions and transfer of care. The staff also liaised with people’s GP, with their consent, to get an overview of their health needs to ensure they were well informed about people’s needs.

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 and their relatives felt safe receiving care. A relative told us, “The staff are competent and provide safe care for [their relative].” The manager asked staff about their knowledge around how to safeguard people from avoidable harm during their recruitment interview. Information was also included in the staff handbook about how to recognise and raise concerns. Staff had received safeguarding adult’s training, and a safeguarding policy was in place. The policy did not contain details about how to raise concerns with the Local Authority safeguarding team. However, this information was added promptly after our assessment, so this information was easily accessible for 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.

Staff assessed risks to people’s safety and on the whole these were documented clearly in their care records. We saw for one person their risk of falls had not been clearly documented in all of their records. We discussed this with the registered manager who apologised for the oversight and promptly updated the persons’ care records to ensure this information was clearly recorded and accessible. Despite this, staff were knowledgeable of people’s needs and could clearly inform us about what action they would take to ensure people’s safety.

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

Staff assessed people’s homes for safety and ensured any trip hazards were removed. The staff also discussed with people how they would evacuate their home in case of an emergency. Staff had been trained on how to use any equipment people needed to ensure these were used safely.

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.

Safe recruitment practices were in place to ensure suitable staff were employed who had the knowledge and skills to undertake their duties. Staff completed training considered mandatory by the provider, as well as training specific to people’s individual needs. Staff completed a period of shadowing with more experienced staff before being signed off as competent to support people on their own. The registered manager undertook regular supervision, spot checks and obtained feedback from people and their relatives to review staff performance and ensure they continued to meet people’s needs. A relative told us, “[Staff] seem skilled and confident, especially with equipment and skin care."

Staff appreciated the support available to them. One staff member said, “[The registered manager] is very helpful and very patient, going through things with me, going through my shadowing…I’m very pleased with all the training they have given me and how [the registered manager] is very patient with teaching and going through things with me, when I have questions or concerns.”

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 had completed training on infection prevention and control and wore personal protective equipment to reduce the risk of spreading infections. The registered manager checked staff’s adherence to good infection control standards during regular spot checks.

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.

At the time of our assessment, people using the service did not need support with their medicines as this was being managed by family members. Nevertheless, staff had received training on safe medicines management and appropriate procedures were in place should people require this type of support.