Aspects Care – Grimsby improved from Requires Improvement to Good following a focused inspection of Safe and Well-led, having resolved previous breaches in medication management, infection control, and governance. The service demonstrated safe medicines practices, consistent staffing, person-centred culture, and effective oversight systems.
Strengths
· Medicines managed safely with competency-assessed staff and STOMP principles implemented
· Sufficient staffing with consistent teams providing continuity of care and one-to-one support
· Person-centred culture with staff treating people as individuals and upholding their rights
· Effective governance with audits, risk checks, care plan reviews and medicine record monitoring
· Open and inclusive leadership with good staff morale and reflective incident learning culture
Aspects Care - Grimsby was rated Requires Improvement overall, with breaches of Regulations 12 and 17 identified for unsafe medicines management, weak infection prevention and control, and ineffective governance/audit systems. Effective, caring and responsive domains were rated Good, with positive feedback on person-centred care, staff training and partnership working.
Concerns (11)
criticalMedication management: “People were at increased risk of harm as medicines were not always managed safely.”
criticalInfection control: “People were at risk of developing infections, as effective infection prevention and control systems were not in place.”
criticalGovernance: “An effective system was not consistently operated to monitor the quality and safety of the service.”
moderateMedication management: “Where people had been administered 'as required' medicines, supporting evidence was not always available to show why they were given this medicine”
moderateMedication management: “Medications received had not been checked and signed in to ensure correct medication and quantities were available.”
moderateInfection control: “Staff did not always wear appropriate PPE in accordance with the provider's policies and national good practice guidance to keep people safe.”
moderateInfection control: “Cleaning schedules were not in place. The provider did not have any evidence to support additional infection control measures had been implemented”
moderateGovernance: “medication audits did not identify the concerns we found on inspection in regards to recording, storing and returning medicines.”
moderateGovernance: “There was an ineffective system for identifying and reporting environmental concerns. For example, some appliances and fixtures were broken”
moderateRecord keeping: “monitoring documentation had not been completed in line with the provider's policies and procedures or identified areas we found on inspection.”
moderateIncident learning: “The provider did not gather and use information from the daily running of the service such as care plan reviews to learn and improve the care provided”
Strengths
· Staff were motivated to provide person-centred care based on people's choices and preferences
· Staff knew how to keep people safe from abuse and were confident raising concerns with external agencies
· People felt safe and well looked after; staff had been recruited safely
· Staff received induction, ongoing training, and regular opportunities to discuss development needs
· MCA and DoLS procedures followed best practice guidance and legislative requirements
Quality-Statement breakdown (9)
safe: Using medicines safelyRequires improvement
safe: Preventing and controlling infectionRequires improvement
safe: Systems and processes to safeguard people from the risk of abuseGood
safe: Assessing risk, safety monitoring and management; Learning lessons when things go wrongGood
safe: Staffing and recruitmentGood
well-led: Managers and staff being clear about their roles, and understanding quality performance, risks and regulatory requirementsRequires improvement
well-led: Promoting a positive culture that is person-centred, open, inclusive and empoweringGood
well-led: Engaging and involving people using the service, the public and staffGood