As part of our Care Trends Report 2024, 43% of providers told us their current IT systems are not adequate, potentially putting their clients at risk. And at a time where technology plays a role in almost everything we do, it’s alarming to see so many care providers struggling with outdated software that could be failing to keep their service and their clients safe.
In this article, we’re looking at the importance of risk assessments in social care, sharing some practical tips on how you can get a better handle on the risks within your organisation.
What is a risk assessment in health and social care?
A risk assessment is the process of identifying and evaluating potential risks that could negatively affect your service, your staff and those you care for. This involves analysing your existing processes, figuring out the likelihood of potential risks and working out a plan of action to minimise or avoid them.
The importance of risk assessments in health and social care
Risk assessments are crucial in the social care sector. They identify potential threats so you can implement strategies before they become real issues. These assessments are vital in safeguarding the well-being of both your service users and staff, ensuring a balanced approach to safety and care priorities.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) may prosecute a provider for breaches of some regulations without first issuing a Warning Notice. Regulation 17 (3) relating to Good governance is one example that can lead to prosecution when there has been a failure to provide ‘a report into how the registered person is complying with the good governance requirements and their plans for improvement of services delivered...’ within 28 days of a request.
The CQC will also inspect a provider after six months of being rated inadequate on one of the five key questions and if no improvements have been noted, the service will be put in special measures.
And of course, risk management is equally important in healthcare too. Check out our blog ‘How can NHS Trusts implement a risk management strategy?’ for more information.
Examples of risk in social care
As you know, risks in social care can range from physical dangers like falls to psychological or emotional stressors. But along with risks to your clients, you also need to be mindful of risks to your staff and service too. Here are a few examples:
Let's start with safeguarding, one of the most prominent risks care providers face. Risks may involve physical or emotional harm, as well as neglect or poor care. Tackling these issues requires thorough training and a watchful eye from staff. It's all about spotting the warning signs early and having solid risk management strategies ready to go across all functions and locations so your teams can confidently deliver safe and effective care every day.
Now, let's talk about staffing and wellbeing. Your care coordinators can be constantly adjusting schedules to ensure there's enough adequately trained staff on the rota. Plus, working in care can be emotionally demanding for your teams, leading to feelings of stress and burnout. So while the sector faces a 24.2% turnover rate, ensuring you have the right number of trained staff can be a challenge, having the potential to compromise the level or quality of care you’re able to deliver.
Another key risk to manage is the financial stability of your service. Identifying and monitoring financial risks ensures you can continue providing essential services, invest in improvements or even grow your business by acquiring other organisations. All of which means you can protect your service for years to come.
And let's not forget about your services’ reputation. By effectively managing risks, you can better safeguard your inspection rating and how your clients or stakeholders view you, avoiding the negative publicity that can arise when a service has failed to adequately protect their clients or staff.
Specific Case Studies
You’ve likely read articles about care organisations who have unfortunately failed to provide safe care or perhaps even improved their care quality. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) recently published information about a care provider in Cheshire West whose overall rating dropped from requires improvement to inadequate after finding that staff had not been trained well enough to follow safeguarding processes as well as concerns over low staffing levels, among other findings.
A provider in Essex, however, have improved their overall rating from inadequate to good having after the CQC recognised they made significant improvements in all aspects of the service, including staff being up to date with their required training as well as creating personalised care plans that are co-developed with clients and their relatives.
Examples like these show just how significant it is to keep on top of your risk management for protecting your service and your clients.
5 steps for managing and evidencing your organisation’s risks
So, what can care providers do to efficiently manage their risks between inspections? We’ve put together 5 steps to risk assessments that you may find beneficial:
1. Identify the risks
The first step you need to take to manage your risks is to identify them. In a social care setting, the types of risks you can face include financial, compliance, wellbeing or safeguarding risks just to name a few.
When identifying risks, you may want to consider any updated regulatory guidance that you need to comply with because as we have already mentioned, your regulatory body can impose fines or penalties for non-compliance.
It may also be worth notifying the relevant teams or stakeholders who are likely going to be part of the risk management process. Being proactive and transparent when identifying your organisation’s risks can help you demonstrate your commitment to continuous improvement and providing high quality, compliant care.
2. Assess the impact
Once you have identified the sorts of risks that could pose a threat to your organisation, your staff or your clients, you want to assess the possible impact they could have.
- Are the risks relevant in multiple sites or unique to a single location?
- What is the likelihood of the risk occurring?
- How significant would the impact be if that risk were to happen?
A risk management solution can then score each risk for you depending on the likelihood and impact of the risks so you can easily see exactly what you’re working with and where you need to focus first.
3. Create a plan
Now you know what your potential risks are and the possible impact they could have if no actions were taken, you can go about making a plan to protect your organisation from the risk.
Start by thinking about what needs to happen, who will be responsible for the tasks, what the planned outcomes will be, and the time scales you expect these actions to be completed.
A benefit of using risk management software is that you can create and describe the risk and assign the actions to your chosen task owners, all whilst giving each member of the team complete access to the necessary time scales and documents.
4. Implement the plan
Once you have your plan of action, you can go about setting it in place. Risk management software, once you have allocated risk owners to their tasks, can notify them when things like reviews and actions are due or overdue, keeping them accountable and your risk management on track.
Plus, user-friendly solutions make sure to guide your users through a standardised path so all those directly involved with managing the task can be assured that the process remains efficient and consistent.
But of course, executing the plan is the responsibility of everyone in your service, not just the owners of the task. Ensure you’re empowering your staff and nurturing a risk culture of compliance by giving them the tools and training they need to provide the high quality, compliant care your organisation works hard to deliver.
5. Monitor and report
With the plan underway and tasks being completed, you will now want to monitor the progress being made and the results of the hard work. In this time, you may also want to consider getting feedback from the people involved, to see how the process has been, where the challenges were and what can be learned.
Using a risk management solution, you can then compile the progress and outcomes of your risk management in tailored reports, providing these to wider stakeholders, board members or for evidencing during an inspection.
And having your risk management process in one place helps to ensure you can identify and mitigate risks, keep up to date with actions and provide evidence using a single source of truth.
Our Risk Management software allows you to identify, map and manage risks across your entire organisation, giving you complete oversight of how you work towards remaining compliant between inspections.
If you would like to see more from us, you can register to our on-demand webinar all about risk management in social care here: Transform your risk management in 2024