Lincolnshire care home put in special measures after inspection

Meadows Edge Care Home in Boston, Lincolnshire was rated "inadequate" by the Care Quality Commission

A care home has been put into special measures after an inspection found "a deterioration in the level of care being provided to people".

Meadows Edge Care Home in Boston, Lincolnshire, was rated "inadequate" by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Inspectors said there were errors in the administration of medicines leaving residents "at risk of receiving incorrect doses".

The BBC has contacted the home for a response.

The CQC carried out inspections in February and March "to check on areas of concern that were highlighted at the last inspection", when the home was rated as "requires improvement".

Greg Rielly from the CQC said: "It was disappointing to see a deterioration in the level of care being provided to people.

"It's unacceptable that areas we told leaders to improve last year still hadn't been done. For example, staff said they would benefit from additional training in specific health needs. This training still wasn't available even though staff continued to support people with complex needs."

Mr Rielly said as well as problems with managing medicines safely there was also an issue with staff failing "to safeguard people from the overuse of medicines including psychotropic medicine which was administered to people as a chemical restraint".

"It was also concerning that people weren't being treated with dignity and respect or given control over how they wanted to be supported," he added.

"For example, people were often woken up early so staff could support them with personal care which regularly caused distress. In addition, language used in care plans to describe people was disrespectful and offensive."

Inspectors found that "controls and restraints were used on people to ensure tasks could be completed, even when they were showing distress" and "there were insufficient arrangements in place to support staff."

The report also notes that relatives had claimed "they were not kept informed or updated about their family members".