Park 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 our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained 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 registered manager understood and acted on the duty of candour, which is their legal responsibility to be open and honest with people when something goes wrong. There were processes in place to investigate and review incidents, accidents, and safeguarding concerns. There were systems in place to review and reflect the outcomes. Changes to care were implemented where necessary, ensuring lessons learned were shared with the staffing team.

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.

Prior to receiving services within the home, people’s needs were assessed to ensure that their care and support needs could be met and safe care provided. Should people require admission to hospital there were Emergency Health Care Plans which were shared with hospital staff to ensure people’s care and support needs were communicated appropriately.

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 received appropriate training which supported them to have the confidence to identify and report any safeguarding concerns, ensuring people remained safe. A staff member commented, “If I were to see anything I would report it straightaway to the management, but there is a poster in the staff room with other numbers on that we can call to report it too.”

Staff 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.

Risk assessments were in place and personalised to match individual’s specific needs. Staff were able to demonstrate the importance of ensuring people were able to participate in tasks that were important to them. For example, a person was supported to hoover as this was something they enjoyed. Staff encouraged the person do this when they wanted. A staff member said, “We try to encourage them to do things that they can do themselves, not just provide personal care.”

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 were in place for the safe and effective use of moving and handling equipment. There was also appropriate maintenance and servicing checks carried out on equipment and the environment. Staff were appropriately trained to use any equipment necessary to deliver safe care to people.

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.

There were appropriate staffing levels to meet people’s needs. A training and skills matrix was in place to ensure care provided was safe and consistent in meeting the needs of people. Some staff told us that there was at times staff shortages on some of the floors. Comments included, “Sometimes we have less staff on this floor than on other days.” The registered manager explained that staffing was based on the overall building and there is often additional staff available. They said that when the service was staffed at the correct level it may appear to staff that they were working with less staff. The management team agreed this was something they felt they could be better communicated with staff about, to support their understanding of how the staffing levels sometimes changed.

Recruitment processes ensured that staff had suitable experience and training. There were appropriate and relevant security checks carried out, this included identity and Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. These provide information including details about convictions and cautions held on the Police National Computer. The information helps employers make safer recruitment decisions.

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.

There were appropriate processes and practices in place to protect people from the risk of infection. Audits carried out had identified areas for improvement which were being actioned by the registered manager. Cleaning records were completed for each floor of the home, with any identified issues reported and actioned in a timely manner.

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.

The service used an Electronic Medicine Administration Records (EMAR) system to support the safe management of medicines. Robust systems were in place to ensure medication was dispensed at appropriate times. There were photographs of people on the EMAR to ensure that medications were dispensed to the correct person. Each floor of the home had a medication treatment room, which were clean, with appropriate secure storage for controlled drugs. Daily records were completed. Procedures were in place for the return and disposal of medication.