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Key Holding in Domiciliary Care (Wales) Policy

Policy Statement

This policy is written in line with the requirements of the Regulated Services (Service Providers and Responsible Individuals) (Wales) Regulations 2017 and accompanying statutory guidance. Compliance with the regulations should ensure that registered domiciliary support services are always delivering safe, effective person-centred care.

(See also policies on Security of Service Users’ Homes in Domiciliary Care (Wales) and Identity Cards in Domiciliary Care (Wales).)

Key holding by staff is sometimes an essential part of providing high-quality care to certain service users who are infirm or immobile or otherwise are assessed as having difficulty in getting to the door and letting in a care worker. In such cases, it is far safer for the care worker to hold a key to the home than for the service user to leave a door unlocked or use a similar strategy such as hiding a key outside the house in a known place. Such strategies represent obvious security risks.

The agency considers that its care workers should ensure the security and safety of service users and their homes at all times when providing personal care and that they must therefore take great care of a service user’s key.

The aim of the policy is to ensure that service users are protected and are safe and secure in their homes and that where keys are held by staff to effect entrance to the home, those keys are kept securely.

Policy

In this agency:

• during the initial assessment, when care is planned, the security of the home should be discussed and an agreement reached about how the care worker will effect entrance to the service user’s home; the care worker may be asked to hold a key to the service user’s home where the service user would find it difficult to open the door for a care worker because of infirmity, disability, incapacity or mental state
• such a decision should only be reached where this represents the best way of effecting entrance for the care worker and where it represents the best way to ensure the safety and security of the service user
• if it is decided that the care worker should hold a copy of the service user’s key then the permission of the service user or their relatives should be made in writing and a suitable entry made to the service delivery plan; key holding should never be embarked upon without the express permission of the care worker’s line manager or supervisor or without an entry being made to the service delivery plan
• staff who hold keys for service users should:
a) label the key with a code, never with the name and address of the service user in case the key gets lost
b) be very careful that they keep the key in a safe place at all times
c) inform their line manager immediately in cases of the loss or theft of keys
d) always knock on the door and announce themselves before entering a service user’s home with a key
• staff should never:
a) agree to leave a key outside a house, in a safe place or on string by the letterbox
b) attempt to effect forced entry to the home.

Some service users have a keysafe box outside their home which is a secure box containing their key. The box can only be opened with a combination or with a master key. This avoids the dangers of a service user hiding a key somewhere outside the house and means that the key is always available.

Staff who have to use a keysafe box should take care with the security of the combination number and keep it secret. In particular, they should never write it down next to the service user’s address.

Training

All care staff must understand and apply this policy and be trained in security procedures. Security training is included in the induction training for all new staff.

In-house training sessions to provide updates on security matters are conducted at least annually and all relevant staff attend.

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