Our Policy

Policy & Procedure Documents

How we use Service Users Information

The categories of information that we collect, process, hold and share include:

  • Personal information (such as name, date of birth and address)
  • Characteristics (such as gender, ethnicity and disability)
  • Information relating to next of kin and extended family details
  • Medical history
  • Health information
  • Photographs
  • Advanced directives
  • Religious beliefs
  • CCTV images

Introduction and background

The Accessible Information Standard is a mandatory requirement that applies to all providers of NHS and publicly funded adult social care. This includes:

  • Providers of publicly funded Adult Social Care or services (including care homes, nursing homes and day care)
  • Adult Social Care or services bodies (in their role as service providers)
  • Providers of Adult Social Care from the voluntary and community or private sectors
  • Providers of Public Health, including advice and information
  • The aim of the Standard is to establish a framework to ensure that patients and service users (and where appropriate carers and parents) who have information or communication needs relating to a disability, impairment or sensory loss receive accessible information and communication support appropriate to their needs.

Statutory Basis for the policy

Although introducing consistency and clarity, via specific requirements, the Accessible Information Standard is building upon existing legal duties which public sector bodies and all service providers are already obligated to follow, as set out in the Equality Act 2010.

The Equality Act became law in October 2010. It replaced, and aimed to improve and strengthen, previous equalities legislation, including the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. The Equality Act covers all of the groups that were protected by previous equality legislation, known as Protected Characteristics, one of which is disability.

The Equality Act places a legal duty on all service providers to take steps or make “reasonable adjustments” in order to avoid putting a disabled person at a substantial disadvantage when compared to a person who is not disabled. Guidance produced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) states that, “Anything which is more than minor or trivial is a substantial disadvantage.” The Equality Act is explicit in including the provision of information in “an accessible format” as a ‘reasonable step’ to be taken.

The Health & Social Care Act 2012 gave the NHS Commissioning Board (or the Secretary of State) powers to prepare and publish an information standard relating to information concerning or connecting with the provision of health services or adult social care in England.

The Care Act 2014 also placed a duty on Local Authorities to establish and maintain a service for providing people in its area with information and advice relating to care and support for adults and support for carers. This information and advice must be accessible to, and proportionate to the needs of, those for whom it is being provided.

Policy Statement

Croft House will:

  • Ensure systems and processes are in place to consistently and routinely identify, register, flag and share service users’, information and communication needs, where they relate to a disability, impairment or sensory loss, as part of service user records.
  • Through training and communication, ensure that staff are aware of the implications of the Standard and are aware of and able to follow local processes and procedures which have been put in place to ensure:
  • A consistent approach to identification of information/ communication needs of service at first registration or interaction with their service.
  • A consistent and routine recording of information/communication needs as part of service user records.
  • Inclusion of any recorded data about individuals’ information and/or communication support needs as part of existing data-sharing processes, and as a routine part of referral, discharge and handover processes.
  • Establishment and use of electronic flags or alerts, or paper-based equivalents, to indicate that an individual has a recorded information and / or communication need, and prompt staff to take appropriate action and / or trigger auto-generation of information in an accessible format / other actions such that those needs can be met.
  • Steps are taken to ensure that individuals receive information in an alternative, accessible format and any communication support which they need.
  • Ensure that staff continue to follow relevant existing legal duties, including those set out in the Data Protection Act 1998 and Mental Capacity Act 2005 around the handling and processing of data.
  • Implement an accessible complaints policy and ensure there are mechanisms in place for individuals to make a complaint, raise a concern or pass on feedback in alternative formats and with communication support.
  • Develop a mechanism to support individuals with information and communications needs to provide feedback on their experience of services, and of receiving information in appropriate formats and / or communication support.
  • Work in partnership with our local Healthwatch and voluntary and community sector organisations to facilitate the development and improvement of accessible materials and to develop approaches for individuals with information and communication needs to feedback on their experiences.
  • Ensure that standard information from ASC such as leaflets are readily available in accessible formats such as large print and easy read, and continue to develop the Adult Social Care website to ensure it is as user friendly and accessible as possible.
  • Work with providers of provider organisations to raise their awareness of the standard, and seek assurance from them of their compliance, including evidence of identifying, recording, flagging, sharing and meeting of needs.
  • Ensure that future commissioning and procurement processes or Adult Social Care providers enable and support implementation and compliance with this standard.

At Croft House we believe that residents should be safeguarded from all forms of abuse. We have a dedicated Safeguarding Champion who is responsible for the training of staff in this area and for following procedures in the event of an abuse being reported.

We recognise that while we must attempt at all times to protect our residents from abuse, and to identify and deal with specific instances of abuse if they occur, we must always be aiming for the very best quality of care. We will not be satisfied with anything which falls short of that standard even if it cannot be categorized specifically as abuse. We will take every possible action to prevent abuse, or to deal with it as promptly and effectively as possible if it occurs. The action to be taken is set out in written policies and procedures.

We have a zero tolerance against abuse. All staff have been and are constantly being trained in all types of abuse and what route to take in reporting abuse. All staff attend updates at least once per year.

The aim of this policy is to lay down for all relevant parties the principles and values underlying our approach to abuse of residents, the ways in which we hope to protect our residents and to avoid abuse taking place, and the action which will be taken to deal with abuse if it occurs which are available to all and are regularly revised.

1. Defining Abuse

We recognise that abuse of residents may take the following forms:

  • Physical abuse
  • Financial or material abuse
  • Psychological abuse
  • Sexual abuse
  • Neglect
  • Discriminatory abuse
  • Self-harm
  • Inhumane or degrading treatment
  • Inappropriate or excessive restraint

2. Identifying Abusers

We accept that abuse may be committed by a range of possible people. We have a responsibility for seeking to protect our service users from all sources, which include:

  • The staff and management of the home
  • Volunteers working in the home
  • Visiting health and social care practitioners and other official visitors
  • Residents friends and relatives
  • People who have contact with our residents while they are temporarily beyond the confines of the home
  • Other residents

3. The Role and Accountability of Staff in Relation to Abuse

All staff have a responsibility to:

  • Provide residents with the best possible care
  • Desist from any abusive action in relation to residents
  • Report anything they witness which is or might be abusive
  • Cooperate in every possible way in any investigation into alleged abuse
  • Participate in training activities relating to abuse and protection

4. Managers have a Responsibility to:

  • Foster structures within which it is possible to deliver the best possible care
  • Encourage a culture and ethos for the home which is hostile to any sort of abuse
  • Produce and regularly revise policies and procedures to combat abuse
  • Operate personnel policies which identify, appropriately deal with and, if necessary, exclude from practice potential or actual abusers. All staff are CRB checked and must be ISA or NMC registered.
  • Provide training for staff in all aspects of abuse and protection
  • Investigate any evidence of abuse speedily and sympathetically
  • Implement improvements to procedures if an investigation into abuse reveal deficiencies in the way in which the home operates
  • Collaborate with all other relevant agencies in combating abuse and improving the protection of residents

5. Preventing Abuse from Occurring

We will take all possible steps to prevent abuse from occurring including:

  • Setting out and making widely known our procedures for responding to suspicions or evidence of abuse
  • Operating personnel policies which ensure that all potential staff are rigorously checked, by the taking up of references, CRB checks and clearance through the Protection of Vulnerable Adults register
  • Incorporating material relevant to abuse into staff training at all levels
  • Maintaining vigilance concerning the possibility of abuse of our residents from whatever source
  • Encouraging among staff, residents and all other stakeholders, a climate of openness and awareness which makes it possible to pass on concerns about behaviour which might be abusive or which might lead to abuse
  • Devising systems which minimize the risk of abuse of residents by other residents by understanding and dealing appropriately with any form of aggression
  • Maintaining robust procedures for regulating any contact the staff of the home need to have with resident’s property, money or financial affairs.
  • Communicating concerns to the appropriate officers of the Local Authority Adult Protection unit and the Care Quality Commission in accordance with relevant legislation and the Department of Health and other authoritative professional bodies.
  • Helping our residents as far as possible to avoid or control situations or relationships which would make them vulnerable to abuse.

6. Identifying Actual or Possible Abuse

We will aim to identify any instances of actual or possible abuse involving our residents by all possible means including:

  • Fostering an open and trusting communication structure within the home so that staff, residents and others feel able to discuss their concerns with someone authorized to take action.
  • Ensuring that all staff and residents know to whom they may turn for advice and action if they become aware or suspect that abuse is occurring.
  • Encouraging staff to recognise that a commitment to the highest possible standards of care must, when necessary, overrule loyalty to colleagues individually or corporately.
  • Making it clear to staff that not to report incidents or suspicions of abuse is itself abusive and may lead to disciplinary or criminal proceedings.
  • Operating systems of management, supervision, internal inspection and quality audits which have the potential to reveal abuse where it exists.

7. Action when Abuse has occurred or is alleged to have Occurred

If abuse is clearly occurring or is alleged to have occurred, we will take swift action to limit the damage to residents and to deal with the abuse, in accordance with the following steps:

  • 7.1 A staff member who witnesses a situation in which a resident is in actual or imminent danger should use their judgment as to the best way to stop what is happening without further damage to anyone involved, including themselves, either by immediately intervening personally or by summoning help.
  • 7.2 Any staff to whom actual or suspected abuse is reported or who is involved in a situation of abuse has the responsibility either to institute action under this policy or to report the matter immediately to an appropriate senior member of staff.
  • 7.3 The senior staff member will immediately take any further action necessary to provide protection, support or additional care to a service user who has been harmed, in line with the Yorkshire Adult Safeguarding Policy.
  • 7.4 Report to Audit protection and CQC as per the Yorkshire Audit Safeguarding Policy do not take any further action. It is now the responsibility of Adult Protection to lead the investigation.

8. Planning Further Action

At the end of an incident involving possible or actual abuse, managers should review what has happened with a view to assessing whether the home or its management has been in any way culpable, ineffective or negligent, to learning lessons for the way the home should operate in the future, and to passing on any appropriate information to other agencies. If necessary the home’s policies, procedures and training arrangements should be modified in response to any material which has emerged from the incident or the investigation. It is also the responsibility of the manager as per Adult Protection Policy to report if required the abuser to Protection of Venerable Adults (POVA).

9. Other Policies Relating to Abuse and Protection

This policy should be read in conjunction with the several other policies of the home which relate to aspects of abuse or protection of residents. These include:

  • Concerns and complaints
  • Physical restraint
  • Management of service users’ money and financial affairs
  • Staff supervision
  • Whistleblowing
  • West Yorkshire Safeguarding

Useful Numbers

If you are unsure if a situation within your service requires a safeguarding alert to be raised firstly speak with a senior person within your organisation. If it is felt that further advice and guidance is required the number below can be used by anyone wanting additional support.

Safeguarding Professional Advice Line: (01962 847214)

Our aim at Croft House is to make the life of our Residents as happy and as comfortable as we possibly can. To this end we welcome suggestions from Residents and Relatives and wherever possible we will comply.

We hope that in your dealings with our home that you find our staff and services meet with both your expectations and approval. If ever these standards fall below that which you find acceptable, or if there is anything else that you are unhappy about, we would ask that you tell us as soon as possible. This may be about staff, management, personal possessions Standards of Care, level of activities, food, infection control or any other issue.

If I am available please speak with me; if not, with the senior member of staff on duty. The complaint will be entered in the Residents’ Complaints Book and resolved between us within 28 days.

If you prefer to make a written complaint rather than approach me or one of the deputy managers personally then please feel free to do so. Your complaint will be acknowledged in writing within seven days of receipt and of course will be dealt with in the strictest confidence at all times. With your involvement we will endeavour to resolve your complaint within 28 days.

Where the complaint is by a resident whom for whatever reasons needs assistance with the matter, then I will contact an advocate or social worker to act on their behalf.

Residents or relatives can contact the advocacy service available in Keighley, direct, at 135 Skipton Road, Keighley, BD21 3JD telephone 01535 665283.

If a resident or their representative is not satisfied that their complaint is dealt with effectively with in this time then they should refer the complaint to:-

Care Quality Commission

Citygate, Gallowgate, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 4PA

Tel 03000 616161

Fax 03000 616172

E Mail: enquiries@cqc.org.uk


Or local government if unhappy with Social Services;

Local Government Ombudsman

PO Box 4771, Coventry, CV4 0EH

Tel 0845 602 1983 or 0247 682 1960

Web: www.lgo.org.uk/making-a-complaint


Safeguarding Team

Web: www.bradford.gove.uk/makeanalert

or the Safeguarding Adults team on

Tel: 01274 431077 or 01274 431077 outside office hours.

The Scale of Charges at Croft House currently is as follows for both independently funded and Local Authority funded clients:

The cost of the rooms range from £700 - £750 per week from the August 2019.

Additional charges which are not included in the fees:-

  • Hair
    The price ranges between £7.00 (dry cut) and £30.00 (perm). Residents choose when to have their hair cut. Perms cost in the region of £30
  • Feet
    The chiropodist visits once every 6 weeks and charges between £6 and £8.
  • Entertainment & Trips
    These are all free of charge as the cost is covered by the weekly room rate, except for the Monday & Wednesday Private Carer trips (see Entertainment page).
  • Clothes
    Residents or their families are expected to provide their own clothing. Laundry services are included in the cost of the weekly room rate.