Whorlton Hall

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Our latest report on this standard published on 11 October 2012

We inspected on 18 and 20 September 2012 during a routine inspection

How this check was done

We looked at the personal care or treatment records of people who use the service, carried out a visit on 18 September 2012 and 20 September 2012, observed how people were being cared for and talked with people who use the service. We talked with staff.

Our judgement

People were protected against the risks associated with medicines because the provider had appropriate arrangements in place to manage medicines.

Reasons for our judgement

Appropriate arrangements were in place for the storage and recording of medicines.

We talked to people about their medicines. They told us the staff looked after all of them. Staff told us everyone who used this service had their medicines given to them by the nurse. The provider may wish to note there were no risk assessments carried out with people to find out if they could look after their medicines independently or with staff support.

We looked at the medicine administration records and supplies. We saw records were kept to show when people had their prescribed medicines at the right dose.

We spoke to the nurse responsible for giving people their medicines that day. They clearly understood about the different types of medicines they were responsible for and when and how they had to be given. We saw there was information available to staff about each medicine used in the hospital, what it was for and any possible side effects. We saw there were care plans in place so staff knew when they should give people “as and when” required medication for agitation. They also explained how incident forms and the use of “as and when” required medication for agitation were always reviewed in each person’s monthly multi disciplinary team meeting. In these ways we saw how people’s welfare was protected by the staff‘s knowledge about medicines.

We saw all medicines were stored securely and within the appropriate temperature range. The nurse told us they carried out audits of the medication to make sure they had been given correctly. We saw records of these audits. We carried out a brief check of medicines held in stock against stock check records and found these to be correct. In these ways people were protected by safe medication procedures.

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