Archived: Diamond Home Care (Dudley)

Updated 1 September 2015

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 6, 8 & 13 July 2015 and was announced to ensure staff would be available to answer any questions we had or provide information that we needed. The inspection team consisted of one inspector and an Expert by Experience of older people’s care services. The Expert of Experience had personal experience of caring for a user of older peoples services.

We reviewed the information we held about the service including notifications of incidents that the provider had sent us. Notifications are reports that the provider is required to send to us to inform us about incidents that have happened at the service, such as accidents or a serious injury.

We liaised with the local authority and Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to identify areas we may wish to focus upon in the planning of this inspection. The CCG is responsible for buying local health services and checking that services are delivering the best possible care to meet the needs of people.

We spoke with seven people who used the service, four relatives, six care staff, the registered manager and the managing director. We reviewed a range of records about people’s care and how the service was managed. This included looking closely at the care provided to four people by reviewing their care records, we reviewed five staff recruitment records, the staff training matrix, communication logs of phone calls and emails, medication records and quality assurance audits. We looked at policies and procedures which related to safety aspects of the service.

Updated 1 September 2015

This announced inspection took place on 6, 8 & 13 July 2015. The provider had a short amount of notice that an inspection would take place so we could ensure staff would be available to answer any questions we had or provide information that we needed.

Diamond Home Care (Dudley) is registered to deliver personal care. They provide care to people who live in their own homes within the community. At the time of our inspection 52 people received personal care from the provider.

The service had a registered manager. 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 and their relatives told us they felt confident that the service provided to them was safe and protected them from harm. We found that medicines were managed and monitored effectively within the service. Assessments to identify issues that may put people using the agency at risk were in place.

There were a suitable amount of staff available to deploy who had the skills, experience and training in order to support people and meet their needs. People and their relatives told us they received the care they needed, when they needed it.

Staff had access to a range of training to provide them with the level of skills and knowledge to deliver care safely and efficiently. The registered manager was responsive in sourcing specific training for staff when it was needed.

People were supported to take food and drinks in sufficient quantities to prevent malnutrition and dehydration.

Care plans contained information about people’s abilities, preferences and support needs. People and their relatives told us staff established consent before providing care.

Staff maintained people’s privacy and dignity whilst encouraging them to remain as independent as possible. Systems were in place for people and their relatives to raise any concerns they had or to make a complaint.

Structures for supervision allowing staff to understand their roles and responsibilities were in place.

Staff told us the registered manager actively promoted an open culture amongst them and made information available to them to raise concerns or whistle blow.

The agency sought people’s feedback through questionnaires and phone contacts about the quality of the service. All communication by phone and email to the agency were reviewed by the manager and signed of when she was satisfied all the actions necessary had been completed.

The registered manager and the provider undertook regular checks on the quality and safety of the service.