 The commission inspected 16,700 homes |
Thousands of care homes are failing to meet national standards on handling medicines, a government watchdog says. The National Care Standards Commission inspected 16,700 care homes for older people, young adults and children.
Less than half handled medicines correctly. In others, staff failed to store or handle drugs properly or gave residents the wrong drugs.
In a report, the commission said some of the mistakes being made were potentially life-threatening.
The findings are based on a review of all of the inspections carried out by officials since 2002.
Clear rules
The Care Standards Act 2000 sets out clear rules for the handling of medicines in care homes.
These include rules on who can and cannot handle drugs, who should administer them to residents and how controlled medicines should be stored.
The report suggests children's homes are struggling to meet these standards, with just 37% following the rules. Problems were also found in homes for older people. Just 44% were found to be meeting standards.
And in homes for younger people, just 46% were following the rules.
Commission chairwoman Anne Parker said many homes had improved, but the failure of so many to meet standards was worrying.
"It is a matter of grave concern that 2,600 of the homes studied for this report failed to meet the medication standard," she said.
"Mistakes in handling drugs and medicines can have serious and even life-threatening consequences.
"One in eight homes not meeting the standard presents an unacceptable risk to adults and children living in these services."
Concerns 'noted'
Health Minister Stephen Ladyman welcomed the report, saying it was important to "maintain a robust system of regulation and inspection, which will help ensure a high standard of care and protection of vulnerable service users".
He said the government had "noted" the NCSC's concerns on training for care home staff and would look at what further action could be taken.
But he believed the report showed that government regulations and inspections were driving up standards of care.
"Early data from the latest round of inspections shows 61% of homes are now meeting the medication standard, a significant improvement over the period covered by the NCSC report."
'Very negative'
Liberal Democrat spokeswoman for older people Sandra Gidley called for a "concerted effort" to tackle the problems.
"More frequent reviews of medication in care homes, better documentation of prescribing, tougher requirements on the number of trained staff, and a new criminal offence of neglect of a vulnerable adult are the essential components of a strategy to tackle the abuse of older people."
But Sheila Scott of the National Care Homes Association criticised the report.
"It is very negative," she told BBC News Online. "It is also unclear. Are we saying people are being admitted to hospital because of drug overdoses, or that homes are failing to carry out the paperwork the commission wants?
"We will be writing to the minister to suggest training programmes for care home staff.
"We would rather the commission had come up with something positive like that rather than simply criticising homes."
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We will be writing to the minister to suggest training programmes for care home staff 
