Verity Healthcare - Haringey

At the last inspection in July 2022, the service was rated overall as ‘Good’.

Lessons were not always learnt to identify and embed good practice. Although people and those acting on their behalf considered themselves and family members to be safe, improvements were required to ensure staff understood people’s care needs and followed their support plan. Following our assessment the provider wrote to us and provided evidence of incident and learning reports. The actions cited will be reviewed at our next assessment to demonstrate these are effective. People did not routinely have an accurate support plan that reflected all of their needs. Improvements were required relating to the management of medicines. This placed people at risk of receiving a poor standard of care and support.

Comments from some people and their relatives did not provide assurance staff were skilled and competent to effectively apply their learning in their everyday practice to support people safely. People knew how to raise concerns. However, some people weren’t assured and confident these would be resolved by the management team. Though staff received formal supervision, where issues were raised about a member of staff’s performance, there was a lack of information as to how this was being monitored and addressed.

Suitable arrangements were in place to protect people from abuse and avoidable harm. Staff understood how to raise concerns and knew what to do to safeguard people. Risks to people were identified and managed to prevent people from receiving unsafe care and support. Staff felt valued and supported by the organisation. Minor recruitment procedures were followed to ensure the right staff were employed. People were protected by the provider's arrangements for the prevention and control of infection.

We identified 2 breaches of regulations in relation to consent and the management of medicines. We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.