Archived: Holmes House Care Home

We saw that care records contained relevant information for staff to meet people's individual care needs. We spoke with six members of staff who all had a good knowledge of people's care needs. We spoke with a visiting doctor who told us that staff were vigilant in seeking medical advice when people showed signs of ill health.

We spoke with four staff about safeguarding, they were able to tell us about their role in safeguarding people from the risks of abuse and harm. This included how to raise concerns both within the organisation and externally.

We counted the totals of five medicines. We found that four balanced with the medication records. We found seven tablets could not be accounted for with the fifth medication. We found that one person had missed their evening dose of pain relief medication on one occasion because their supply of medication in the home had run out and although a new supply had been ordered it had not been delivered or collected in time to be administered.

Staff told us that they completed regular training and supervision sessions and that they felt supported to do their jobs.

When we visited Holmes House 10 August 2012 we found that records did not detail when people were offered and refused food and drinks. We looked at food and fluid records during our visit 07 February 2013. We saw that staff were recording some occasions when people had refused food and drink. We spoke to a visiting dietician who told us about the improvments made in the home in relation to nutrition.

During our visit 07 February 2013 we saw that the new controlled drugs cupboard had been installed and was in use. We saw that the temperature of the room used to store medication had on occassions been higher than that recomended by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain guidelines. The manager confirmed that achiller was being installed to manager the temperature.

In this report the name of a registered manager appears who was not in post and not managing the regulatory activities at this location at the time of the inspection. Their name appears because they were still a Registered Manager on our register at the time.

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Records showed that people were supported to maintain good health and attended regular health appointments including general practitioner, dietician and podiatrist. We saw that, where there were concerns about people's nutrition, staff recorded details of what people ate and drank. We found that records did not always show when people refused food and drinks. This meant it was not clear whether food or drink had been offered supper or what action had been taken when they refused.

We saw that there were systems in place to monitor care records; medication; risk assessments; falls and health and safety. We found that the provider conducted regular visits to the home to monitor the quality of service.