Fosse Healthcare - Nottingham

People and those important to them knew how to raise concerns when they did not feel safe. Staff understood their duty to protect people from abuse and knew how and when to report any concerns. When concerns had been raised, managers reported these promptly to the relevant agencies and worked proactively with them, to make sure timely action was taken to safeguard people from further risk. Safety risks to people were managed well. Managers assessed and reviewed safety risks to people and made sure people and those important to them, were involved in making decisions about how they wished to be supported to stay safe. There were enough suitably skilled and experienced staff to support people with their needs. New staff had an experienced staff member as a buddy to support their learning as part of their induction. Staff received relevant training to meet the range of people’s needs at the service. Staff received support through supervision to support their continuous learning and improve their working practice.

Peoples needs and rights were supported. Peoples care and treatment was effective due to their health, care, well-being, and communication needs being assessed with them. Peoples care plans were kept up to date with any assessments completed in a timely manner. Staff were aware of people’s preferences and respected these in a person-centred way. People were aware of their rights around care and treatment. Staff had good knowledge of the mental capacity act, including capacity and consent. Staff were aware of how to support someone with fluctuating capacity.

People were supported to have choice and control and make decisions about how their support was provided. They were encouraged and helped by staff to do as much as they could for themselves, to maintain their independence. People were supported to understand their rights and how the service would make sure these were respected. People’s needs, views, wishes and comfort were a priority, and staff were alert to people’s needs and took time to observe, communicate and engage people in discussions about their immediate needs. Staff were compassionate and recognised when people needed urgent help or support and approached the right people in a timely way to facilitate this.

People were supported to live in a safe, inclusive environment in which they were treated fairly and free from the fear of being discriminated against. People were supported to understand their equality and human rights and how staff and managers would respect these. Managers made sure staff were given appropriate training and supported to treat people equally and fairly and reduce the risk of them being excluded from receiving care and support they were entitled to. Managers used people’s feedback to improve care to reduce any barriers people might experience due to their protected characteristics.

There were clear and effective governance, management and accountability arrangements. Staff understood their role and responsibilities. Managers accounted for the actions, behaviours and performance of staff. The systems to manage current and future performance and risks to the quality of the service took a proportionate approach to managing risk that allowed new and innovative ideas to be tested within the service. Data or notifications were consistently submitted to external organisations as required. There were robust arrangements for the availability, integrity and confidentiality of data, records and data management systems. Information was used effectively to monitor and improve the quality of care. Leaders implemented relevant or mandatory quality frameworks, recognised standards, best practices or equivalents to improve equity in experience and outcomes for people using services and tackle known inequalities.