A care home just outside of Oswestry has been told it “requires improvement” after inspectors found issues around medicine management.

Hengoed Park in Gobowen was rated as requiring improvement in an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) after they “received concerns in relation to people's care and that the provider was not operating within the scope of their registration.”

In their report the CQC said the home had many problems with regards to the management of medicine and said: “Medicines were not always correctly accounted for. Some medicine stock balances were incorrect for the records we looked at.

“Staff told us this was because when new stock was delivered the old stock was not always added to it.

“However, the discrepancies we found would not account for this because there were often too many medicines. This increased the risk of people not receiving their medicines as prescribed.”

They also found that systems for returning unused medicines “had not been effective”.

READ MORE:

In their inspection they found “two loose unlabelled controlled drugs were found in the controlled drugs cupboard. The medicine records showed the last person to receive this controlled drug had left the service in April 2023." That was eight months prior to the inspection.

They added: “The records showed this medicine had all been returned to the pharmacy for disposal. Staff could offer no explanation as to why these were found in the cupboard.

“A controlled drug is a medicine that is subject to strict legal controls. These controls are to prevent it from being misused, being obtained illegally or causing harm.”

Issues of cleanliness were also brought up as the inspection found “people's commodes were not always emptied in a timely manner which increased the malodour in some areas of the home.

“We received mixed feedback from staff as to whose responsibility it was to empty and clean these. We discussed this with the registered manager who told us they would make the responsibilities for this clearer to staff.”

The inspectors also found that record keeping needed to be improved to “ensure staff recorded accurate information when they had repositioned people to reduce the risk of skin damage”.

Overall the home was criticised for its management with the report adding: “There was minimal provider scrutiny or oversight of the governance arrangements within the service.

“The registered manager was also the nominated individual. The provider had failed to ensure all notifiable incidents were reported to us as required.

“Governance systems were not always effective at identifying concerns within the service, such as people's records, staff training records, staff recruitment and medicines.”

An action plan has now been drawn up for the home by the CQC so it can make the recommended changes.  

The Advertizer has approached the home for comment.