Purple Lilac Healthcare 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 was the first assessment for this service. The key question has been rated good. This meant people were safe and protected from avoidable harm.

This service scored 69 (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. Accidents and untoward incidents were investigated, used to inform any changes to the service, and the provider apologised when things went wrong.

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 provider understood the importance of working with health and social care professionals. For example, they said they always requested a copy of hospital discharge information or gp medical history to ensure they had up to date information about medication or health conditions.

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 and family members all said they felt safe with the care staff. Care staff understood their responsibilities for safeguarding and where they had concerns they had raised these appropriately meaning action could be taken if required.

The service usually worked well with people to understand and manage risks. Some people were receiving blood thinning medication and risk assessments relating to this had not been completed. We also identified that additional information for risk assessments relating to diabetes was required. The provider took prompt action to add the additional information. The lack of risk assessments or detail within risk assessments was mitigated as care staff understood the actions they should take to manage these risks.

The service detected and controlled potential risks in the care environment. They made sure equipment, facilities and technology supported the delivery of safe care. Care staff confirmed they had received relevant training to use any equipment in place. The provider understood how to access any additional equipment which may be required. Although information was held within care plans about fire detection equipment in people’s homes the provider agreed to add further information to state who was responsible for regular checking that these were functioning correctly.

There were enough qualified, skilled and experienced staff who received effective support, supervision and development. However, not all pre-employment checks had been fully completed prior to staff commencing work. The provider had identified a need to further strengthen the office staff team to support with recruitment checks and was in the process of recruiting to this role. They promptly took the required action to seek the missing pre-employment information. People and family members told us they had continuity of care staff who usually attended on time and always stayed for the correct length of time.

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. Care staff had received infection control and food hygiene training. Systems were in place to ensure staff had adequate supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) A person told us, “They [care staff] wear their PPE.”

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. Care staff and training records confirmed staff had received medication administration training and had their competency assessed. Care staff understood actions they should take if they had concerns with medicines administration and had acted appropriately when this had occurred.