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Warning over care home prescriptions

Date published: 08/02/2006

Almost half of all nursing and care homes across England fail to meet the national minimum standards for giving the correct medication to inhabitants, inspectors have said.

A report by the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) found people were being given the wrong medication, the wrong dosage of drugs and, in some cases, no medication at all. It is thought 200,000 inhabitants could be affected by poor medicating standards.

The inspectors found that nursing and care home staff were often poorly trained and that proper records were not kept, making it difficult to assess patient care in the 19,500 homes which inspectors looked at. The findings echo a report, published two years ago, in which care and nursing homes fell down in the same areas.

In the new report it was revealed that although there had been some improvements, too many homes were still failing to meet minimum medication standards, even though they had been offered guidance and support. Dame Denise Platt, chair of the CSCI, 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." She also said that care homes must keep proper records and make sure all staff are properly trained. Inspectors found that 5,000 out of 11,500 homes for older people and over 3,000 out of 8,000 homes for younger adults failed to meet national minimum standards.

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