Kenneth Brincombe

Dear Ms. Saunders

I am writing in response to the regulations 28 report sent to us on the 14th February 2018 with answers to your questions around ensuring that we prevent a re-occurrence of a similar situation.

1. Confirm the process of undertaking risk assessments in the home of a vulnerable adult who cannot ensure the safety of his/her environment and confirm the training the staff have to identify fire hazards.

For all customers that we provide a service for we undertake a number of risk assessments. This includes a full assessment of the customer and their care needs and an environmental risk assessment that looks at the customers surroundings. We then carry out further risk assessments dependent on the two standard assessments already undertaken. In this case, and because the customer did choose to smoke, we carried out a risk assessment around that activity.

Assessments are carried out by a senior care worker who is trained to do this. Risks are reviewed at least every 6 months or sooner if circumstances change. We mitigate the risk by involving other professionals, such as the fire brigade, as we did in this case.

All of our carers receive health and safety training during induction. This includes:
* understanding the roles and responsibilities of employers and individuals, including the relevant legislation,
* the importance of risk assessments, and reporting identified Health & Safety risks
* COSHH / handling hazardous substances,
* promoting fire safety, including the fire triangle; fire doors; fire exits and what to do in the event of a fire.

Great service, great homes and a great place to work Guinness Care and Support Limited is a member of The Guinness Partnership Group Guinness Care and Support Ltd is registered in England as a charitable Community Benefit Society No 30337R, is registered with the Care Quality Commission and is registered with the Homes and Communities Agency as a Registered Provider of Social Housing No 14497 Registered Office 30 Brock Street, Regent's Place London NW13FG 0715-017 INVESTORS IN PEOPLE

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This training is refreshed every 3 years. In between this training we invite the Community Safety Champion in from the fire brigade, where they give a talk to the carers about what the fire service can do to help and support, when to contact them and what risks to look for.

2. Describe what measures should be taken when carers are being asked to facilitate an activity which will endanger the lives of the individual concerned and others.

A risk assessment would be carried out as described in question 1 and that assessment would also look at how we could best mitigate the risk.

If a risk is identified as higher than normal we would undertake a briefing to staff and would have a shorter review period of the risk assessment. We would also gain additional support from professionals and ensure that social services are aware of the risks and mitigation in place. This describes the action taken in this case. If the risk was considered to be too high, we would take a view that our staff would not participate in that particular activity with a customer.

3. Confirm whether in future, where a vulnerable adult is at high risk of accidental starting a fire, putting himself and others lives in danger, and being unable to take any action if this occurs, that smoke detectors would be fitted that have a direct link to a fire station.

We can confirm that if this option is available then we would consider this route in conjunction with social services and the individual, if the customer is assessed as being at risk. Other options may be investigated that include assistive technology, but the most suitable option would need to be agreed by all parties.