Winserve Care Services

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. Staff listened to concerns about safety and investigated and reported safety events. Lessons were learnt to continually identify and embed good practice.

We found the management team were open and transparent and wanted to drive improvement at the service. Accidents and incidents were reviewed and lessons learned were completed which were shared with the staff team through team meetings and discussions.

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. Managers carried out pre-admission assessments . One person told us, “ They [managers] came to see me when I started using the service about what I needed.”

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 told us they felt safe. One person said. ”Yes, absolutely I feel safe. The carers are lovely” and “Yes they look after me they make sure I have no falls with them.”

Staff were trained and understood their roles in relation to safeguarding. Staff told us they knew how to raise a concern and were confident their concerns would be listened to and acted upon. One staff member said, “I would go straight to my manager or higher if needed, but I don’t have any concerns at the moment.”

Records showed safeguarding concerns were reported promptly to the local authority and to CQC with follow up actions documented.

Effective systems to provide oversight of accidents and incidents including safeguarding were in place.

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.

Processes were in place to ensure that staff had detailed and up to date information to allow them to support people appropriately and mitigate risks . One staff told us, “Yes if anything changes, we speak to the office or management to make sure it’s on the care plan. People told us their care plan reflected their needs even though they had not received formal reviews. One person said, “ My care is just how I want it.” We discussed with the registered manager the importance of reviews. They told us they would start formal reviews with people.

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

Prior to support starting, an assessment of the environment was completed with the provider to ensure both people and staff are safe. Staff were aware of risks associated with the environment and knew where to find the information to guide them.

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 were in place, so people were cared for by suitably qualified staff who had been assessed as safe to work with people.

Staff told us they felt supported, were receiving supervision and felt the training they received allowed them to be confident in carrying out their role. One staff member said, “I have completed all my training , we are always doing more when these are required. I think we are all up to date.” People we spoke with said, “Yes, the carers are skilled. They understand my access requirements, the importance of hygiene, safe handling and moving for me. And they keep my dignity as much as possible” and “Yes [trained]. They have more training than other agencies that I’ve used and are proactive.”

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 received training in infection control and no concerns were raised by staff about the availability of personal protective equipment (PPE).

People and their families also raised no issues with the management of infection. One staff member said, “ We wear PPE to protect them [people] and us.”

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 our last inspection, we found that medicines audits were not formally documented and could not be assured the provider was monitoring all medicine mistakes. We noted improvements at this inspection and saw that the provider had introduced an Electronic Medication Administration Record (eMAR) system, to ensure good governance. Further improvements had been made to improve ways of working, to better identify, review and manage risk. For example, medication audits, staff spot checks (including medication), enhanced staff training and competency assessments and access to GP Connect enabling secure and real-time access to service users' GP medical records. The provider made sure that medicines and treatments were safe and met people’s needs, capacities and preferences. Safe systems were in place to ensure the safe receipt, storage, administration, recording and disposal of medicines.

Medicines were administered, stored and managed safely. Daily and monthly medicine checks and audits were carried out to identify any errors and issues were addressed promptly.

Where people had medicines prescribed to be administered on an ‘as required’ (PRN) basis, such as pain relief medicines, there were protocols in place to support staff to administer these medicines.

The service used electronic Medication Administration Records (eMAR) which helped staff monitor discrepancies and medicine errors more effectively.