Archived: Blue Diamond Care

Updated 9 August 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 21 June 2016 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service. We needed to ensure the provider could make arrangements for us to be able to speak with people who use the service, office staff, care staff and to make available some care records for review if we required them. The inspection team consisted of one inspector and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of service.

We looked at information we already had about the provider. Providers are required to notify the Care Quality Commission about specific events and incidents that occur including serious injuries to people receiving care. We refer to these as notifications. The provider had completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. This information was received when we requested it. We also spoke with service commissioners (who purchase care and support from this service on behalf of some people who use the service) to obtain their views. All this information was used to plan what areas we were going to focus on during the inspection.

We met and spoke with the registered manager. We spoke with four people who used the service and three relatives of people. We spoke at length with three members of care staff and one team leader.

We looked at some records including four people’s care plans and medication administration records to see if people were receiving the care as planned. We sampled two staff files including their recruitment process. We sampled records about training plans, and looked at the registered providers quality assurance and audit records to see how the provider monitored the quality of the service.

Updated 9 August 2016

This inspection took place on 21 June 2016 and was announced. We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice of our visit because the location provides a domiciliary care service [care at home]; we needed to make sure that there would be someone in the office at the time of our visit. The service was last inspected in July 2013 and was meeting all the regulations.

Blue Diamond Care are registered to provide personal care. They provide care to people who live in their own homes within the community. There were 11 people using this service at the time of our inspection.

There was a registered manager in post who was present throughout the inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the service is run.

People told us that staff kept them safe in their own homes and that they received care from staff who protected them from the risk of potential abuse. Risks relating to people’s care needs had been assessed; however risk management plans did not always contain clear guidance for staff to follow.

There were sufficient numbers of reliable and consistent staff employed to provide people’s care. Recruitment checks ensured that people were protected from the risk of being cared for by unsuitable staff. People who received support with their medicines were satisfied but improvement was needed to ensure this was done safely in line with safe medicine guidance.

Staff advised us that they had the knowledge and skills required to undertake their roles. Staff described how they felt well supported. The registered manager undertook observation checks to monitor and assess how the knowledge and skills gained by staff were being put into practice. Staff had a good understanding of the principles of the Mental Capacity Act and what this meant for people. People were supported to eat and drink well and maintain their health care needs.

Positive and complimentary comments were received from people about the staff that supported them which described how staff treated them with dignity and respect. People were supported to make their own decisions about how they wanted their care provided.

People were happy that their care needs were met by staff they knew well. Staff understood people’s individual preferences and responded appropriately when people’s needs changed. People knew and felt empowered to express any concerns or complaints they felt about the service.

People and staff told us that the registered manager was approachable and extremely supportive. People were encouraged to express their opinions about the quality of the service they received. There were some systems in place to monitor the quality of the service provided and this was an area that the registered manager told us they were focusing on developing and improving.