Icare Solutions (Wirral) Ltd

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 improvements. At this assessment the rating has changed to good. This meant people were safe and protected from avoidable harm. However, improvements needed to be fully embedded in relation to medicines administration records.

This service scored 66 (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 did not always have a proactive culture of safety. Whilst they listened to concerns about safety and investigated and reported safety events, further improvements were needed to ensure the provider always identified issues for improvement and embedded good practice. This related to medicines management. People and staff were encouraged and supported to raise concerns; they felt confident they would be treated with understanding if they did. Where a complaint had been raised, the registered manager had taken action to ensure staff understood procedures and considered if further improvements could be made.

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. New staff were introduced to people, and information shared with staff through an electronic care planning system. Managers had developed an information table, which prioritised people’s needs, in case of an emergency impacting the service. They worked with health professionals to support staff to undertake specific training, for example, in relation to stoma care, helping support people to live in their own homes.

The provider 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. People and their relatives told us they felt safe with the care and support provided. The provider had a safeguarding policy, staff had been trained and shared concerns appropriately under local safeguarding procedures. However, the provider had not always informed CQC of some of these concerns, as legally required. They addressed this following our assessment.

The provider 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 undertook risk assessments relating to various aspects of peoples’ care needs and kept these under review.

The provider detected and controlled potential risks in the care environment. They made sure equipment, and technology supported the delivery of safe care. Staff undertook assessments relating to people’s home environments. Managers had referred people to the fire service for further guidance about fire safety where concerns were identified. Where people used equipment such as hoists, information was contained within their care plans including when it was due to be serviced.

The provider made sure there were enough qualified, skilled and experienced staff, who received effective support, supervision and development. Staff worked together well to provide safe care which met people’s individual needs. The provider operated an on-call system and kept live oversight of staff attendance at care calls through the electronic system. Staff were positive about their training and felt supported, they told us, “When I joined it was a detailed induction” and “We have quite a lot of supervision.” Overall, staff were recruited safely, however, the provider’s oversight processes had not identified one issue we found relating to a recruitment check, the provider addressed this straight away.

The provider assessed and managed the risk of infection. They detected and controlled the risk of it spreading. People we spoke with told us staff always used personal protective equipment (PPE), such as gloves and aprons. The provider had an infection control policy and staff undertook relevant training. Managers carried out spot checks to ensure staff used PPE correctly. Staff told us they had access to adequate supplies of PPE.

The provider had not always ensured medicines and treatments were safe and met people’s needs, capacities and preferences. Staff had not always ensured records relating to medicines and treatments were fully up to date and accurate for each person. For example, where people needed support to apply creams or ointments this was not always clear within their care plans. There had been some recent changes to a person’s medicines, which was not reflected within their records. Whilst staff knew people well, including the support they required, the provider needed to ensure records were fully up to date and accurate. Whilst managers undertook medication audits, these had not identified the issues we found. They addressed the issues we identified straight away.