Care homes failing on medication standards

Nearly half of all nursing and care homes in England are failing to meet national minimum standards on medication, an inspectors report has claimed.

People are often given the wrong medication, someone else's medication, medication in the wrong doses or no medication at all, the Commission for Social Care Inspection report found.

The report also said that staff were often poorly trained and records were often not kept properly.

Inspectors found that over 5,000 out of 11,500 homes for older people and over 3,000 out of nearly 8,000 homes for younger adults failed to meet the national minimum standards.

Around 210,000 people live in these care homes, with most of them suffering from severe physical or learning disabilities or other serious long-term illnesses.

Dame Denise Platt, Chair of the Commission for Social Care Inspection, said: "Giving people the right medicine, in the right doses, at the right time is critical.

"It is vital that all care homes treat this issue with the utmost seriousness. They have a duty of care towards the people in their homes.

"There are important things that nursing homes and care homes must do now - including keeping proper records of who has been given what medication and when; and making sure members of staff are properly trained to handle medication. Homes must also keep medicines safe on behalf of their residents, as people can differ in the degree to which they can administer their own medicine. Some people are fully self-sufficient, others rely totally on the support of nursing and care workers."

The report said that Primary Care Trusts needed to take more active steps to ensure that the management of medicines in homes was given a higher priority and that support was also provided to help develop safe working practices.

The commission said that it would continue to monitor the performance of homes in this area, through unannounced and other inspection activity.

Conservative Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley described the report as "deeply disturbing" and said that care homes had to minimise mistakes in order to restore patient confidence.

Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Steve Webb urged the commission to "get tough" on homes, which failed to properly manage medication and impose severe penalties.

(KMcA)