Care home gave patients out of date medication

Wraysbury House in Beccles Road, Worthing was found to have a catalogue of errors around management and use of medicines in a Care Quality Commission inspection which took place on October 27 and November 1 last year.

In the report, published on January 31, the care home was rated as ‘requires improvement’ overall, but as ‘inadequate’ for patient safety.

On the first day of the inspection, inspectors experienced ‘strong offensive smells of urine in the front entrance, hallway and from people’s bedrooms’, with stained furniture and dusty floors, due to cleaners being understaffed.

On another occasion, inspectors saw a resident spill a hot drink down themselves after falling asleep and being left unattended by staff.

As well as storing expired medicines, staff also gave people’s prescribed creams to other people, stored medicines in a hot conservatory, and crushed tablets into a yoghurt for a patient when the label said do not give with milk.

Inspectors told the home they had until January 31 to improve. Registered manager Sue Townend said: “We have made great improvements since the first day of inspection and we believe that we are now fully compliant, and we are working really hard to protect the safety of all our customers.”

She said they had been working with Lloyds Pharmacy to improve their policies and handling of medication, and believed they were now safe.