12 March 2014
During an inspection looking at part of the service
When we inspected the home 15 people lived there. We looked at two care files, the medicine administration records for seven people and looked at how the service stored and managed medicines. We spoke with two staff, the manager, business manager and two people that lived there. People spoken with told us they were happy with the changes that had been made. One person said, 'Staff spend a lot more time with us now. There are more staff to help us.' Another person said, 'Things are a lot more organised here so we get to go out more because they all have more time. It's great.'
We found that appropriate arrangements had been undertaken in order to manage the risks associated with the unsafe use and management of medicines. Records showed that medication had been given to people as prescribed by their doctor so as to ensure their health needs were met. Records of people's daily activities, nutritional and fluid intake were now detailed and comprehensive which meant that the risks to people had been reduced.
We saw that improvements had been made to the provider's quality assurance systems and that the necessary checks were being undertaken. Areas of improvements included the implementation of a robust and effective audit system to ensure that standards of care, records of the care delivered and medication administration were regularly monitored. Lessons had been learned from previously identified errors or problems with medicine management and to prevent them happening again. Robust audit systems and quality monitoring processes were now in place to ensure that people received quality care that met their needs and protected their safety.