Premier Care Limited - Salford Homecare Branch

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

Individual risks to people were managed safely. People felt safe and staff understood their responsibilities to safeguard people. Individual risk assessments were in place for people. There were enough staff available to ensure people’s safety and overall care visits were completed on time, which was something that had improved since our last inspection. Staff received training to ensure they could deliver safe care in areas such as medication and moving/handling.

This service scored 62 (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 used a client survey to assess the satisfaction of people and their relatives with the quality and safety of the service. The provider had created an action plan from the feedback obtained from people in which they identified areas to improve service provision. One person said, "There was a lady came about a month ago to see if I was happy with the service so I could give feedback.” The people we spoke with said they hadn't needed to make a complaint, or if they had, it had been dealt with properly.

Staff told us there were regular meetings where important information was shared and we found minutes of these were available.

Accidents, incidents and complaints were monitored, with details captured about any required learning to prevent re-occurrence.

We did not look at Safe systems, pathways and transitions during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

People who used the service and relatives told us they felt safe. One person said, “I feel safe when the carers here. Other times I am left on my own." Another person added, “Yes, I do. Well I know most of them that come, occasionally I will get a new one, but I do feel safe with them. They make my breakfast, put laundry in the machine and they cream me and help me to wash my hair.”

Staff understood about safeguarding, whistle blowing and how to protect people from the risk of harm. One member of staff said, "Safeguarding is about the measures taken to protect vulnerable individuals. While whistle blowing is the act of revealing wrongdoing or unethical behaviour in an organisation, typically by an employee." Another member of staff told us, "It is about people and organisations working together to prevent and stop both the risks and experience of abuse or neglect, while at the same time making sure that the adult's wellbeing is promoted including, where appropriate, having regard to their views, wishes, feelings and beliefs in deciding on any action. We do receive training on all aspects of care."

Safeguarding incidents were monitored and policies and procedures were in place.

People told us they had been involved with their care planning and ongoing risk management. One person said, “Yes, I was involved and my daughter helped me as well because she’s a carer.”

Staff understood about risk and how to keep people safe and said they had completed training in important areas such as safeguarding and moving and handling. Records of this were available on the staff training matrix.

Each person who used the service had risk assessments in place, with control measures about how to keep them safe. Staff said spot checks were completed where they had their competency checks in areas such as safeguarding and moving and handling to ensure this was done safely.

We did not look at Safe environments during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

People told us they felt there were enough staff working for the service, who arrived on time and stayed for the correct duration of the care visit. This was an area of improvement since our last inspection. One person said, "More or less, yes. It’s been the odd time, but only here and there. They let me know if they will be late too."

There were sufficient numbers of staff available to care for people safely. Staff said they were given sufficient travel time between care visits, although some said this could vary depending on certain situations which could occur during the day. Staff told us they received enough training to support them in their role. One member of staff said, "Yes, I receive ample training to fulfil my role. My training is primarily overseen by an experienced carer with six years of expertise. She is meticulous in her guidance and dedicated to imparting knowledge." Staff supervisions and appraisals took place to ensure monitoring and to enhance development in their roles. One member of staff said, "Yes, we do have regular staff meetings where we can express our views. Additionally, there are supervision and appraisal sessions available. Since I have recently joined, I have attended one staff meeting already. It is convenient as we receive reminders about the meetings and there are two different time slots to choose from, which does not disrupt our work schedule."

Call monitoring was used to check care visits were being completed. Records of these were available which showed that overall, people's care calls were completed on time Staff were given rotas each week to enable them to know which care visits to complete. Staff received sufficient training and support to enable them to carry out the duties they were employed to perform. The training matrix indicated the current completion rate was at 98%. Supervision was provided bi-annually to staff, with additional meetings held as and where necessary., These included specific ‘topic’ supervisions used to review and check staff knowledge and competency in specific areas. Staff were recruited safely. Pre-employment checks were completed to ensure applicants were of suitable character to work with vulnerable people. This included completing checks with the Disclosure and Barring Service, seeking references from previous employers, and ensuring staff were legally permitted to work in the United Kingdom.

We did not look at Infection prevention and control during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

People had a detailed medication support plan that listed all their medicines and documented their preferences and support needs. The person whose care plan we saw was prescribed a blood thinning medicine and their care plan alerted staff to watch out for bruising on the skin. We visited one person to observe a senior carer carry out a review of the person’s care support needs. The senior carer told us that people receive an annual review, a six month home visit and four monthly telephone calls from senior staff. The person told us they were very happy with the care they received and their carers were kind and friendly. This person self-managed their medicines. During the visit the senior carer assessed that the person was able to do this safely and made a list of the person’s current medicines to check their care plan was up to date. The service has a good working relationship with all the GP practices where people to whom they provide care are patients. The medicines co-ordinator requests GP summaries to audit and update the EMAR system. They are notified about medicine changes, including mid-month dose changes and short courses of medicines. The service has a clear, comprehensive medicine policy and procedure which was reviewed in July 2023 (next review July 2024).