Sandhall Park

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 69 (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. Accidents and incidents had been recorded for the registered manager to review. Staff told us they learnt lessons when things went wrong. However, evidence of this learning was not well recorded. During the inspection the manager addressed this and implemented a new debriefing record to help evidence the learning culture within the service.

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 knew when to escalate concerns and appropriate referrals had been sent when needed, to other health care professionals. This helped to support people when their needs changed. Health passports were developed to share details about people’s needs when they moved to different care settings, helping to ensure smooth transitions.

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.

Clear systems were in place to safeguard people. Staff told us they knew how to raise concerns, and they were confident managers would deal with these concerns appropriately. Managers had oversight of safeguarding concerns and worked well with the local authority to resolve any issues identified. The registered manager understood their responsibility when depriving someone of their liberty to keep them safe. The correct applications were in place when needed to help safeguard people.

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. People were safe and staff could tell us how they ensured people’s safety, but records did not reflect this. During the inspection we found that not all risk to people had the correct risk assessment in place. For example, people who were receiving anticoagulant medicines did not have a risk assessment. Other risk assessments lacked adequate detail around risk mitigation. The manager and deputy manager worked quickly to improve this during the inspection.

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

Maintenance checks were in place to ensure people’s safety. Staff raised any concerns directly to the maintenance team who acted quickly to resolve any issues. Some areas of the service needed updating due to age. The provider had, plans in place to address this. Further work was needed to ensure the environment was more suitable for people with dementia. People’s rooms were personalised to suit their tastes, needs and preferences.

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.

Recruitment procedures and checks were robust to ensure potential staff were suitable to support vulnerable people. New staff received a thorough induction and were supported by managers. Staff were trained to provide safe care and felt confident in doing so. A dependency tool was used to help calculate staffing needs, which was reviewed by the management team to ensure safe staffing numbers.

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. The service was clean, and domestic staff were on shift daily to help ensure an infection free environment. Cleaning checks were in place to help monitor the cleanliness and staff wore personal protective equipment (PPE) appropriately. One person said, “It’s a nice place to be, it’s nice and clean.”

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.

People received their medication when they needed it, from staff who were confident in managing medication. Training had been provided to ensure staff had the appropriate knowledge and skills. Processes were in place for the ordering and storage of medication. The registered manager had developed audits to check that medication was managed safely.