Archived: Diamond Home Care (Halesowen)

We visited the homes of three people who used the service on 4 March 2014 and talked with their care workers. This inspection was carried out by a pharmacist.

We found that people were satisfied with how their medicines were given to them. Care workers were kind and understood the individual medicine requirements of the people they cared for. We found improvements had been made in recording what medicines had been given to people. However, we also found that the 'current medicine records' available in people's medication care files were out of date and did not accurately document what people were prescribed .

Most people we spoke with that used the service were happy with the quality of the care they received. One person told us 'No complaints for (care workers) at Diamond'. Another person said, 'Some carers go above and beyond what they need to do'. Two people had some concerns the agency's communication with them.

A CQC pharmacist inspector visited the homes of three people on 19 July 2013. We looked at medicine administration records and how medicines were recorded as given. We found that appropriate arrangements were not undertaken to manage risks associated with medicines.

We looked at records for care workers that had commenced working for the agency since registration. We saw that there were appropriate checks carried out prior to employment of care workers.

We found that the provider had an overview of training for care workers. Care workers said they were well supported to do their jobs although said the way their rotas were planned could be better. These comments were also reflected by comments from some people we spoke with.

The provider was able to demonstrate how they gained the views of people and how they would use these to improve the quality of the service.