Medication improvements at village care service

HolmCare is based in the village of Newcastleton and provides care at home to people with a variety of needs, including those with dementia, mental health problems and physical disabilities.

A representative from the Care Inspectorate carried out an unannounced follow-up visit to the service last month.

It followed an inspection in March this year which found that the service’s strengths “just outweighed its weaknesses”.

The new report found that people experienced warm, respectful, and consistent support from staff who knew them well, helping them feel safe, valued and in control of their care.

Staff had a good understanding of individual’s needs, and support plans and daily records clearly guided practice and linked to people’s personal outcomes.

Medication practices were safe and well managed, with strengthened competency processes now in place to improve oversight and ensure people received medication as prescribed.

Leadership and quality assurance systems had improved, but continued focus was needed to fully embed these processes, evidence the impact of actions taken, and ensure sustained, measurable improvement over time.

The service was rated ‘good’ for supporting people’s well-being and ‘adequate’ for leadership.

The report states: “People’s health and wellbeing benefitted from safe and effective medication practices.

“Medication administration was well managed, and people were supported to take the right medication at the right time.

“Following advice given at the last inspection, the provider had now separated medication competency checks from the general spot check documentation.

“This change had improved the clarity of oversight and strengthened the monitoring of staff practice.

“The manager confirmed that this new approach was fully in place and was supporting more reliable assessment of staff competency, contributing to continued improvements in safe medication administration.”