Five tips to reduce the risk of claims at your care home
As the owner or manager of a care home, you will already be aware that there are risks involved in every part of your business. From the personal care of your residents to the maintenance of equipment and administering medication, there are a lot of risk areas that must be considered. If the potential risks in your care home are not managed effectively, they may lead to an unexpected event, which could result in a claim being made against you.
There are measures that every care home should put in place, to ensure risks are managed as best as possible, and the likelihood of a claim is minimised.
That’s why we would like to share some risk management approaches that could help to reduce the risk of claims in your care home.
1. Train staff
If staff aren’t trained correctly and understand their role fully, they can pose a threat to the health and safety of themselves, other staff, or residents. Because of this, you should provide your staff with regular training on health and safety, fire safety, and manual handling to minimise the risk of accidents and injuries in your care home. They should also know how to use any equipment correctly, your safety procedures, what to do in an emergency and how to work with each other, as well as your patients/residents.
2. Record Keeping
Digital record keeping will provide you with greater governance, stronger compliance and help to ensure quality outcomes for those in your care. Having digital records means that information will always be at your fingertips and will provide safer medication management, helping to eliminate errors and therefore reducing the risk of a medical malpractice claim. As well as this, accurate records of any incidents or accidents can be used to identify and manage any potential risks in your care home.
Find out more about how improving your record keeping can benefit your care business.
3. Maintenance of equipment and buildings
Regular maintenance checks to ensure everything from hoists, lifts, and motorised ramps, to your building and all facilities are paramount, and will reduce the risk of an incident occurring, when using the equipment in your care home. Consideration should also be given to the location and storage of equipment when not in use, and anyone required to use the equipment should be trained.
4. Fire safety
You should have robust safety measures in place to mitigate the risk of fires, such as smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, emergency evacuation procedures and an appointed fire marshal within the care home. As well as this, you should get your fire and smoke alarms regularly tested to ensure they are working correctly.
5. Infection controls
The spread of infectious diseases can be a hazard to care homes and if not prevented or managed, can result in a claim against your care facility. This means that having robust plans in place to prevent outbreaks of infection within your care home is vital. Alongside this, if an infection does spread, you should have a comprehensive crisis management plan that will help to contain and manage any outbreak that may occur.
To find out more about identifying health and safety hazards in your care home, you can read our blog.
We’re here to help
If you would like to talk to an experienced commercial adviser about your care home insurance needs, we’d be delighted to hear from you. We work with our clients to create a programme of insurance covers to protect against potential risk.
Our impartial advice and guidance will help to ensure you have the right level of cover in place, so you can enjoy complete peace of mind and focus on running your care home.
You can contact us on 01480 272727 or send an email to enquiries@barnesinsurancebroker.co.uk and we will be in touch.
