Carers failed to hand out medicine, watchdog finds

Help at Home said it had made changes to "prevent a repeat of the errors"

A Leicestershire care service has been handed a warning notice after staff failed to hand out medicine on several occasions, the healthcare watchdog has said.

Help at Home's Connaught House in Victoria Place, Loughborough, was rated as "requires improvement" by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The CQC report stated there was an "increased risk of people being harmed" due to the way it manages medicines.

The company said it had now made changes to prevent a repeat of the errors.

Help at Home provides care and supported living services across the county.

At Connaught House, it provides personal care for people living in their own flats in an adapted building.

In a previous inspection at the site last August, the CQC found the service was not always safe and not consistently well-led.

Inspectors found it "failed to ensure people's medicines were administered as prescribed" and the company was told to take action.

The company provides personal care for people living in their own flats in an adapted building

In the latest inspection in June, they found the "provider remained in breach of regulations".

They found six errors had taken place between May and June, including missed medicines and missed care visits.

"Although we found no evidence that people had been harmed as a result of these errors, this meant our concerns remained over the safe administration of people's medicines," inspectors said.

The report also noted the service had been without a registered manager since July 2021, but residents said they still "felt confident their concerns would be addressed".

Residents also said they "felt safe and respected" by the staff, the report added.

'Apologise unreservedly'

Help at Home said it was "naturally disappointed" with the recent CQC report.

"We accept that some errors were made when supporting people to take their medicines which could have put their safety at risk," a spokesperson said.

"The safety of the people that use our services is our primary concern and we have already implemented improvements to prevent a repeat of the errors.

"We apologise unreservedly to the small number of people affected by the failures identified in the report."

The service was rated good for being effective, caring and responsive - three of the five areas looked at by the CQC.