Alveston Leys Care Home

People told us they felt safe. Staff understood their safeguarding responsibilities to keep people protected from poor practice. Staff were aware of the signs that might indicate a person was worried or anxious and how these could be an indicator of potential abuse or discrimination.

People received their medicines safely. People who required 'as and when' medicines had a protocol in place to tell staff, when, how and at what dose, these medicines should be given safely. Medicines were stored safely, and people received their medicines from staff who were trained and competent. Any medicines people required at specific times were administered when needed.

The provider continued to follow safe recruitment processes and staff told us they were trained and competent to complete tasks.

Risks were assessed and updated to ensure staff supported people with the right levels of care. We found some improvements could be made to ensure staff had enough information to support safe diabetes care on the residential unit of the home. This was addressed immediately during our inspection visit.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Most people told us they felt there were enough staff on duty to meet their needs. However, some people felt staff did not always arrive promptly when they called for assistance. Reliance on agency staff had reduced and people felt staff response was better, but still needed improving. During our visit we heard alarm bells were ringing for periods of time. We discussed this with the registered manager who agreed to investigate this to assure themselves there were enough staff at key points of the shift.

The registered manager and provider completed regular audits and checks, including clinical, quality and

environmental checks. We found when some of those checks were delegated to others, there was limited scrutiny to ensure those checks were completed correctly and any improvements were addressed. The provider contacted us after our visit and plans to address improvements for some environmental checks had commenced.