Oak Way House

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

As part of this assessment, we looked at 3 quality statements for the key question of safe. These were safeguarding, involving people to manage risks and safe and effective staffing. People were protected from avoidable harm and abuse with an emphasis on openness, transparency and learning lessons when things went wrong. People were involved in developing different approaches to keeping safe. Staff were recruited safely, and people were supported by a consistent staff team that knew them very well.

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.

We did not look at Learning culture during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

We did not look at Safe systems, pathways and transitions during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

People felt safe with the support they received. One person told us, “I always feel safe with the carers. When they help me, I know I'm in safe hands because they are very experienced and competent.” Another person told us, “I feel so much safer here than the last place I lived at. The carers are very kind and I feel my safety is important to the carers.”

Staff knew how to take action to minimise the risks of avoidable risks to people and were knowledgeable about how to keep people safe from harm. One staff member commented, “Safety is our priority. I wouldn’t hesitate to report anything I was concerned about. I know I would be well supported by the senior staff if I ever had to whistle blow." Staff confirmed they had completed training in recognising and reporting abuse and all staff we spoke with were able to tell us where safeguarding policies and information was held.

Staff training records confirmed that all staff had completed safeguarding training for vulnerable adults. There were safeguarding policies that were accessible to staff and each staff member had a staff handbook that also contained information about safeguarding. The manager maintained a safeguarding matrix, so they had good managerial oversight of any safeguarding concerns. Records showed the provider reported safeguarding incidents as required to the relevant agencies and used these to learn lessons when things went wrong.

People were protected against the risk of avoidable harm. One person said, "The carers take every precaution to make sure I don’t fall.” Another commented, “The staff are very good at supporting my [family member] who has a visual impairment to stay safe.”

Staff told us they were able to keep people as safe as possible, whilst also promoting their independence. One member of staff told us, "We have risk assessments in place, and they are helpful, so we know the areas where people are at risk and can put strategies in place.”

Risk assessments were in place to identify all the risks present within a person’s life. Each person’s assessment was personalised to them and described the support they needed to manage risks. Risk assessments addressed people's diverse needs. For example, people's specific needs around their mobility, medication and nutrition. These had regularly been reviewed to make sure they remained up to date and reflected changes to people's circumstances. There were policies in place in relation to risk management that were accessible to staff.

We did not look at Safe environments during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

There were sufficient staff to meet people’s care needs and people were supported by a consistent staff team that knew them well. We received very positive comments about the staff team. One person told us, “There are always plenty of staff around and there is always someone there when you need them. They are fantastic.” Another person commented, “The carers are like my family. They genuinely care for me, and I care for them.” However, 2 people told us there were no staff at night and this made them feel unsafe. We discussed this with the registered manager who told us that every person using the service had an emergency pendant. If a person needed support in the night, they could press their pendant and staff from the residential care home located next to Oak Way House would attend. Three people who had used their pendants at night stated that staff had attended swiftly.

Staff told us they felt staffing levels were good and sufficient to fully meet people’s care needs. One staff member told us, "We are lucky the staffing levels are really good. I never feel I have to rush people’s care. It’s very relaxed.” The registered manager told us they completed a dependency tool every month that indicated people’s level of need and how many staff they would require to support them. The registered manager confirmed that the actual staffing numbers deployed was always higher than the suggested numbers indicated on the dependency tool.

A robust assessment of people’s needs was completed before a care package was agreed. This meant the provider was able to assess how much support a person needed and how many staff were required to provide that support safely. The assessment also identified the skill mix of staff needed to provide people’s care. Staff rotas showed that sufficient numbers of staff were consistently deployed to fully meet people’s needs. The provider followed robust recruitment procedures to ensure people were protected from staff that may not be fit to support them. The registered manager told us they tried to match people with similar characters, interests, age ranges and skills set.

We did not look at Infection prevention and control during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

We did not look at Medicines optimisation during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.