Citibase Slough

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

People were safeguarded from abuse and avoidable harm. Risks about people’s safety were assessed to ensure they were supported to remain as safe as possible. There were sufficient numbers of staff to meet people’s needs and cover their agreed hours of support. Recruitment processes ensured that care staff employed were assessed as safe to work with people using the service.

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.

People knew how to raise concerns and felt these had been addressed and responded to, when they had done so. Relatives told us that they were very happy with the service and have never had a reason to complain. Some people told us they have only had complaints regarding care staff attending calls late and when they complained to the manager the matter was addressed.

Staff explained what the process was if an incident or accident occurred, they explained that all records were reported to the office and were recorded in people’s daily notes. This was also shared via a messaging app on their mobile phones. Staff told us that they found the sharing of information via mobile phones helpful and kept them updated and helped them identify possible risks. The manager told us that all areas of safe was covered in the staff inductions, including whistle blowing, complaints procedure and safeguarding, medication administration.

The provider had systems in place for dealing with accidents and incidents and safeguarding incidents. There were records of all lessons learned from safeguarding, audits and incidents and details of the outcomes. The provider looked for any themes and took appropriate action to help prevent reoccurrences of incidents. Lessons learned were shared with care staff through the messaging app on their mobile phones. Care plans, risk assessments and guidance were updated when required.

The registered manager worked with people and or their relative to carryout a full assessment to support people to be discharged from hospital back into the community.

The registered manager told us they worked closely with the hospital discharge teams to assess and support people so they can be discharged back into the community. The registered manager gave an example of the hospital discharge team asking them to support someone back into the community by cleaning and decluttering the persons house to ensure the environment was safe for them to live in.

The provider worked closely with external teams. The provider had received other positive feedback from stakeholders.

The provider carried out thorough assessments with other healthcare professionals and shared information to help ensure safe transition between services.

Relatives told us that they felt their family member was safe in the presence of care staff. Relatives spoke positively about staff. One relative said, “The staff are absolutely fantastic, was happily surprised at how lovely the care workers were and how caring they are.” Another told us, “The carers look after [person] well, they are beautifully gentle souls.” A third told us “I am here when the carers are here and I watch them with [person] and they are patient and gentle with [person].”

Staff were clear about their responsibilities to report concerns and were able to describe the action they would take if they witnessed or suspected any abusive or neglectful practice. Staff gave us examples of the signs of abuse and risk they look out for and how they would report it and escalate it to if required. They understood when and how to speak up if they had concerns about abuse. The manager was aware of their responsibilities on how to protect people from abuse and actions they would take where there was an allegation of abuse. Management were keen on working on the prevention of a safeguarding incident taking place, management identified trends and potential patterns regarding safeguarding’s and alerted staff via a messaging app on their mobile smart phones.

There were policies and procedures regarding safeguarding and whistle blowing in place. These provided guidance about the action to take if staff had concerns about the welfare of people. Training records showed staff had completed safeguarding training and this was updated annually. Safeguarding training on what to look out for was also covered as an interview question, during management spot checks and staff supervisions. There was a system in place for recording and monitoring safeguarding concerns which helped management have a clear oversight over this.

People and their relatives were involved in the delivery of care and support. Risks to people were identified and managed to help keep people safe. These were person centred and included information about how to minimise the associated risks. A relative told us “Yes we are involved in [person] care, we had an initial meeting and did a care plan together.”

Staff were aware of people’s individual health needs and helped ensure they were safe when carrying out any tasks. Staff told us they reviewed people’s care plans regularly, they also said they were told about any changes via a work group app on their smart mobile phones. Staff were encouraged to report and record risks so that appropriate action could be taken to ensure the safety of people. Staff we spoke with were confident of the process in identifying risks and reporting these to management. Staff told us they were confident that these would be listened to and appropriate action would be taken.

Potential risks about people’s safety were assessed to ensure they were supported to remain as safe as possible. Risk assessments were discussed with the person and their relative where appropriate. Risk assessments provided staff with guidance on how to support people safely. Staff received training in key areas of potential risk such as moving and handling, health and safety and basic life support. Risk assessments were regularly reviewed and updated. There was a system in place to report, record and monitor incidents and accidents to help ensure people were supported safely.

People's relatives told us that their loved ones were familiar with the care workers and they knew and liked them. One relative we spoke to advised that they had an issue with the care worker turning up late and that the manager was resolving this. Other comments we received included "They are usually on time and if they are running late we are notified with a call.

The staff explained how they were recruited and about the training they had undertaken. They said the training had been useful. One staff member explained, ''It has helped my awareness.'' The staff told us they had enough time to carry out their jobs and to travel between care visits.

Risk assessments were carried out to help to ensure care could be provided safely There were processes and policies in place to ensure people’s homes were a safe place to live. Each person had personal emergency evacuation plans place, and risk assessments including bed rail risk assessments and fire risk assessments were completed.

Relatives felt staff were well trained and understood how to care for their family member well. They spoke positively about the staff who cared for their family member. A relative told us, ” They are all well trained, they send different carers but they all know [person] needs and [person] has got to know them all and likes them a lot.” Another relative said, “They [carers] are great, lovely and caring. Two relatives raised concerns with care workers arriving late to calls. Following recent feedback from stakeholders about punctuality, the provider was putting in a new system to monitor and improve the timings for calls.

Staff told us there were sufficient staffing numbers and they were able to safely meet people’s needs. Staff confirmed they had completed a range of mandatory training as well as training to meet people’s specific care needs which included needs associated with their medical conditions and end of life. Staff confirmed they felt the training was useful and it equipped them with the skills to enable them to meet the needs of the people they cared for.

People were supported by staff who had the knowledge and skills required to meet their needs. There were appropriate systems for recruiting staff. These included checks on their identity, knowledge, skills, attitude, their right to work in the United Kingdom and the Disclosure and Barring Service check for criminal convictions. Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks provide information including details about convictions and cautions held on the Police National Computer. The information helps employers make safer recruitment decisions. Staff members completed an induction before they started their new role and received mandatory training.

Relatives told us that care workers wear a uniform when attending calls and wear gloves, aprons and masks.

Staff confirmed they had completed infection prevention and control training and this was supported by training records. Staff had access to and wore full personal protective equipment (PPE), such as gloves, aprons, shoe covers and masks on calls to service users.

Staff received annual infection control training and management completes infection control audits annually. There was a personal protective equipment (PPE) policy and procedure and an infection control policy and procedure in place.

People were supported by staff in a kind and caring manner when they received their prescribed medicines. Staff ensured medicines were administered in a safe way and explained to people when they were supporting them with medicines.

Staff who administered medicines confirmed they had received medicines management training. Staff competency to support people with their medicines was assessed regularly during spot checks to monitor their skills and knowledge of best practice when managing medicines.

There was a system in place to record when people received their medicines on the medicines administration record (MAR). Medicines information leaflets and fact sheets about people’s medicines were included in their care plan folder so staff could refer to them if required.