Excelle Home Care

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.

System was in place to learn from lessons following incidents. There had been no accidents or incidents since our last inspection. An accident and incident policy was in place that detailed the process to manage accidents and incidents. An accident and incident template was also in place to record incidents along with actions taken.

Management told us that process included ensuring lessons were learnt from incidents and shared with staff to ensure the risk of reoccurrence was minimised.

The provider worked with people and professionals to establish and maintain safe systems of care, in which safety was managed or monitored. They made sure there was continuity of care when people were being supported.

The service worked with people and healthcare partners to establish and maintain safe systems of care, in which safety was managed or monitored.

The service ensured they received all information available when supporting a person to transition to their service. This included speaking with the referring agency, the person and their relatives.

We saw the template used to record key information about people’s support and care needs to determine the support required. This information was used to inform the assessment process and ensure a smooth transition between services. The management team told us, where possible, people had the same carers to ensure relationships were built so people received continuity of care.

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.

There were processes to safeguard people from abuse and harm. The service had a safeguarding policy that detailed the types of abuse and how to escalate concerns if staff suspected or saw abuse to ensure people were protected.

A relative told us people were protected from abuse and felt safe. Staff had been trained in safeguarding adults and understood how to protect people from harm and who to report to when required. Staff were able to tell us the importance of reporting any concerns to the management team. Staff also felt they could be open to the management team if they had any concerns.

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.

There were risk assessments to ensure people received safe care. We found risk assessments were in place for people with specific health conditions such as risks associated with stroke and urinary tract infections. Risk assessments had been completed for people at risk of falls and nutrition. Risk assessments included the risks and how to support the person to minimise risks.

The registered manager and staff were aware of the importance of having robust risk assessments to ensure risks were minimised and people received safe care and support at all times. A staff member told us, “When you come in contact with [people], you look at their care plan (risk assessment) so you know how to handle them and monitor things that are going on.”

A relative we spoke to told us that staff looked after people well, which included minimising risks to ensure people were safe.

The provider detected and controlled potential risks in the care environment.

Risk assessments had been completed on people’s home environment. Information included details on risks or hazards within the environment to ensure care and support could be provided to people in a safe way and risks to staff and people were minimised such as ensuring environment was clear of hazards when supporting people to minimise the risk of falls.

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.

During our last inspection we found staff were late for care calls, at times over an hour. Therefore, people were not receiving care in a timely manner.

During this assessment, we found improvements had been made.

The service used a digital system to monitor staff time keeping. The system alerted if staff were late for calls, which then the office could monitor. The system gave the service oversight of staff timekeeping. Management also carried out audits on staff timekeeping as part of monthly operations audits. The data showed that staff were on time for care visits. We saw a compliment, which said, ‘The carers have improved on their time keeping, they no longer come too early.’

There were enough staff to support people safely and staff knew people well. A relative told us, “They [staff] are doing the job very well.”

We found staff had been trained in a number of key areas such as with first aid, safeguarding, moving and handling, food hygiene and catheter care. A training matrix was in place that allowed management to have oversight of training including when refresher training was due.

Systems were in place to recruit staff safely. Pre-employment checks had been carried out such as on criminal and identity checks and references had been sought. Staff had received regular supervision to ensure they were supported in their roles.

The registered manager told us that staff were supported through training, supervisions, and spot checks to ensure staff could receive regular support.

Staff told us that they received regular supervisions and support from the management team. A staff member told us, “Yes, at least once a month (supervisions). It helps me a lot because they (management) are so open and anything we don’t understand they help.”

The provider assessed and managed the risk of infection. Systems were in place to prevent infections. Staff had been trained on infection control and told us the protocol to ensure safe infection control, which included wearing Personal Protective Equipment when needed and following good hand hygiene protocols.

The service did not support people with medicine administration. Care plans included the support people required with medicines.

Staff had completed medicine training, and a medicines policy was in place. The registered manager told us this was in place should the service support people with medicine in the future.