Bspoke Social Care

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 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 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.

The service and staff followed their policy and processes to ensure accidents and incidents were reported and investigated. The management team acted to make changes when needed. Any lessons learned from incidents were recorded in the registered manager’s audits and passed on to staff through team meetings, supervisions and messages.

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.

The registered manager and the managerial team worked well with people, family and other services to ensure all involved had knowledge of people’s care needs, to ensure safe transitions of care. The service would attend multi-disciplinary meetings regarding people’s care. An assessment took place in either the person’s home or where they were currently receiving care. The service would put in place a basic care plan that would be reviewed at frequent intervals as staff got to know the person. Initial care calls were carried out by a manager so they could gather all the information needed to support staff to deliver personalised care. As the service got to know the person a personalised care plan would be developed with the person, to ensure staff had all the information they needed to deliver care.

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.

All staff have received safeguarding training appropriate to their roles and safeguarding was discussed with staff during supervisions. Staff told us if they felt that a person was being abused in anyway, they would raise an alert on the electronic recording system used by the service and contact the duty manager. These alerts would be looked at by the registered manager or safeguarding lead, and a referral to the local authority safeguarding team would be made.

People and their families told us that they felt safe having Bspoke Social Care supporting them in their own homes, and that they trusted the staff to keep them safe.

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.

The service recorded risk mitigations in people’s electronic care records and told staff of new risk mitigations, to make sure the care they were giving was personalised and up to date. Staff and managers told us that they would support people to know all of the risks involved so that they could make an informed decision. They would work with people and their families to make sure people had choice about their own care.

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

The service supported people with any environmental risks within their own home, ensuring there were risk assessments in place that were reviewed frequently. They supported people and families and made referrals to appropriate health care professionals such as occupational therapies when needed.

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.

People told us they did not experience missed calls as there was enough staff. They said if staff were going to be late, which we were told rarely happened then they were contacted to let them know. People received care from the same staff unless cover was needed for either sickness or holidays. One relative told us they and their family member were told in advance when there was going to be a new staff member supporting them. They said the manager made sure they were happy with the change.

Staff were recruited safely and had received training, supervision and ongoing support from the service. People told us they felt staff were adequately trained.

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 had received training in controlling and preventing the spread of infection. Staff wore personal protective equipment (PPE) such as gloves and aprons to reduce the risk and spread of infection. The provider carried out spot-checks on staff to ensure they wore PPE where required when supporting people.

The provider did not always make sure that medicines and treatments were safe and met people’s needs.

Protocols were not in place for all ‘as required’ medicines. This meant staff did not have the information of when, how and who should administer this medicine. Although most people could tell staff if they needed their additional ‘as required’ medicines, protocols needed to be in place to ensure staff had all the guidance relating to the persons medicines. The Provider and registered manager acted on this and have put steps in place to ensure information is available to staff on the services electronic care records system.

Staff received training and competency checks regarding their abilities to manage medicines. Managers carried out spot checks to ensure people received their medicines safely.