Altogether Care - Care At Home Limited Wareham

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 inspection for this newly registered service. This key question has been rated 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 service had a proactive and positive culture of safety, based on openness and honesty. They listened to concerns about safety and investigated and reported safety events. Lessons were learnt to continually identify and embed good practice. Accident, incidents and safety concerns had been reported appropriately by staff and fully investigated by the managers. Lessons learned were shared with staff to prevent them from happening again. External partners said, “Staff take appropriate action to keep people safe, when something goes wrong we are appropriately informed and staff learn lessons to prevent it from happening again.”

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. Staff kept important information about people up to date and this was easily accessible to professionals who needed it. One professional told us, “Staff keep information up to date so we can understand the persons journey.”

The service worked with people and healthcare partners 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 told us they felt safe. Staff had received appropriate training and knew how to protect people from abuse. Staff knew how to report concerns both internally and externally to keep people safe. Appropriate referrals had been made to the local safeguarding team. Staff told us, “If we have any concerns we report directly to the registered manager or we can speak to anyone in the office who will help. If we needed to, we could also contact the local authority or CQC.”

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. Staff had assessed people for risks relating to their health, safety and welfare. Risk assessments were regularly reviewed and updated when their care needs changed. Staff told us they accessed up to date information using electronic care planning system and knew how to keep people safe.

The service detected and controlled potential risks in the care environment. They made sure equipment, facilities and technology supported the delivery of safe care. The provider assessed people’s environments for risks and took action to ensure people and staff remained safe. Staff knew who to contact if they felt people would benefit from additional equipment to aid with their mobility such as hoists.

The service 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. Staff had been recruited safely into the service. They told us they had enough time to travel to people’s home and one staff member said they had a “stress free working rota.” Staff felt supported by the management team and said there were enough staff to meet the needs of the people using the service. One staff member said, “The managers make sure that we have time to travel, they check in regularly and invite us into the office to have a chat. They are always on the end of the phone. I feel very well supported” People told us, “Staff are well trained, mostly on time and do everything asked.”

The service 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 guidelines for infection control to keep people safe and healthy. One person said, “They wear everything and wash their hands, but I do ask them to remove their masks so that I can hear what they are saying.”

The service made sure that medicines and treatments were safe and met people’s needs, capacities and preferences. They involved people in planning, including when changes happened. Staff received medicine training when they started working at the service and told us they were signed off as competent to administer medicines before they began supporting people. People told us, “I feel safe with staff who support me with my medicines, they help me with my tablets and stay with me whilst I take them. They never miss.”