The Sussex Village Homecare Service Limited

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. This is the first assessment for this service. This key question has been rated good. This meant people were safe and protected from avoidable harm.

This service scored 72 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The service had a positive culture of safety, based on openness and honesty. Lessons were learnt to continually identify and embed good practice. Following an incident where a person’s health had deteriorated prior to them receiving support from the service, the registered manager had changed the process of accepting new packages of care. This was to ensure staff were provided with the most up to date information about people and that the service could meet their needs and provide the right hours of support required.

The service 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 management team undertook pre-service assessments prior to people being supported. They liaised with healthcare professionals to ensure people’s needs could be met whilst providing a continuity of care. A person told us, “When I first started I had an assessment, this was done at my home.”

The service worked with people to understand what being safe meant to them and the best way to achieve that. They 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 service shared concerns quickly and appropriately. People’s relatives told us their loved ones felt safe with staff, comments included, “[Person] feels very safe with them [staff], I can see it in their face.” Staff understood their duty to report safeguarding concerns and knew how to escalate concerns within the service and to external agencies. A staff member said, “We do a lot of safeguarding training, we recognise it’s everybody’s responsibility.”

The service worked with people to understand and manage risks by thinking holistically. They provided care to meet people’s needs that was safe, supportive and enabled people to do the things that mattered to them. People were supported to manage any risks associated with their health or equipment they required. For example, a person preferred to manage their own catheter care. Staff ensured they left the person’s night bag in an accessible place but were also provided with detailed information on what to do if there were any catheter related complications.

The service detected and controlled potential risks in the care environment. They made sure equipment, facilities and technology supported the delivery of safe care. Staff and management identified where people needed adaptations to their homes to improve their safety. For example, a person was due to install a wet room to enable them to shower safely. A relative told us, “The girls [staff] quite rightly said they were too scared to get [person] in the shower cubicle.”

Recruitment checks were not always completed prior to staff employment. We identified a staff member did not have the required pre-employment checks in place before commencing employment; the registered manager acted immediately to rectify this. The service made sure there were enough skilled and experienced staff, who received effective support, supervision and development. Rotas were designed to ensure people received their assessed level of support, including where 2 staff were needed. A person told us, “They rarely are late, they keep to time, which is necessary, they always stay for the amount of time or over.” Staff received training relevant to their roles, staff also received regular supervision. A staff member commented, “Supervisions we can bring anything up if we want to discuss anything and I can just call [registered manager] too.”

The service assessed and managed the risk of infection. People and their relatives told us staff supported them to keep their homes clean. Staff received infection prevention and control training and used personal protective equipment appropriately. A staff member said, “We all have our own gloves and change gloves between tasks, we hand wash and make sure flannels and towels are changed and keep a clean environment.”

The service made sure that medicines and treatments were safe and met people’s needs, capacities and preferences. Records showed staff administered medicines in line with the prescriber’s instructions. The registered manager told us how people’s call times were prioritised when staff supported medicine administration.