Carestaff Solutions

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.

There was an appropriate incident recording process which staff understood. Staff documented relevant information about what happened and the registered manager reviewed these to take necessary actions and inform the correct people. The provider planned to move to an electronic recording system in the near future to further support staff and managers to identify themes and learn any lessons.

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.

The service conducted thorough assessments of people when they were first referred to the service to aid an effective transition. Leaders worked alongside relevant health professionals when required to make sure they captured relevant information about people and their needs. Care packages were reviewed after a few weeks to make sure they met people’s needs and the registered manager continued to review support at regular intervals.

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.

There was a safeguarding policy and staff completed safeguarding training. Staff knew how to raise concerns and the registered manager worked alongside the local authority to raise and investigate safeguarding issues. The provider had a tracker to monitor referrals and made sure recommendations were implemented.

The registered manager was aware of the legal framework for anyone who may be at risk of being deprived of their liberty, although this was not relevant for anyone the provider supported at the time of the assessment.

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.

The registered manager conducted a wide range of risk assessments to capture important information. This was done alongside people and their relatives. Risk assessments completed included issues such as risk of choking, eating and drinking, and manual handling. These were reviewed on a monthly basis or when there was a change. Staff accessed information easily via an electronic device.

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

Leaders conducted environmental risk assessments which included information such as accessibility of the home, pets and smoking risks.

The provider conducted fire safety checks and staff undertook fire safety training. Staff completed visual checks of the environment to make sure items were in good working order and reported when anything needed to be replaced. Staff made safety checks of people’s mobility cars before commencing a journey.

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.

The provider made sure staff were recruited using safe processes and made checks such as references and disclosure and barring service (DBS) checks. Rotas were managed to provide consistent staff teams, and many staff were long standing. Training compliance rates were high, and staff completed training relevant to their role, including learning disability and autism awareness. Leaders conducted competency checks of staff following their induction and at regular intervals following recruitment.

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 followed the provider’s infection prevention and control policy and knew about processes such as wearing protective clothing such as aprons and gloves at specific times. Staff completed food hygiene awareness training. Leaders completed spot checks to make sure staff were following guidance about maintaining hygiene such as washing their hands and remaining bare below the elbow, to reduce the risk of the spread of infection. The new registered manager planned to commence infection prevention and control audits.

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.

There was information about people’s medicines to guide staff including for medicines which were prescribed ‘as and when required’. Staff signed to say they administered medicines according to people’s prescriptions on the electronic system and the registered manager monitored this. Staff took account of expiry dates and made sure medicines were ordered on time. Medicines were stored securely and staff monitored the temperature where medicines were stored.