10 February 2006
Almost half of nursing and care homes for older and disabled people fail to meet the national minimum standards on administering residents' prescription medicines, the Commission for Social Care Inspection has found.
The standards include the secure storage of prescription medicines and making sure each resident receives the right medicine in the right dose at the right time.
Only 55.5% of care homes for older people and 61.5% of homes for disabled adults meet the standards.
In 2003, the compliance rates were 44.7% and 45.9% respectively. However, the CSCI said that this improvement had to be 'placed in context'. The standard on medication was one of the most infrequently met standards in care homes, it said, and, compared with others, 'improvement in performance is slow'.
In the case of nursing homes, which cater for residents with medical needs, progress on the standard had become 'stagnant'.
In 2004, the Commons health select committee highlighted the abusive practice of giving older people in homes anti-psychotic drugs they had no medical need for.
Commission chair Dame Denise Platt 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 said it was essential that all care homes kept proper medication records and ensure staff were properly trained.
The CSCI also found a difference in compliance between older peoples' homes run by councils and by the private sector. While the compliance rate for council-run homes was 59.5%, it was 54.5% in the private sector. Council-run homes had also improved at a faster pace than private homes, leading the CSCI to comment: 'This difference suggests improvement in performance… may be influenced by the operating practices associated with differing sectors of ownership.'
The CSCI also questioned whether the National Training Strategy Grant – given to councils to improve staff training in public, voluntary and private sector homes – was being made best use of. When it was introduced in 2003, a percentage of the grant was ring-fenced for standards-specific training. This was dropped in 2004.
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