A CARE home has been warned that it must make urgent improvements after an inspection.

Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) visited Heathside Residential Home in Plank Lane, Leigh, on July 2 and found that the service was failing to meet the national standards.

The CQC has taken enforcement action and warned Wigan Council, which runs the home, that it must immediately improve its management of medicines as “the service was failing to protect people against the risks associated with poor medicines management”.

The report reads: “Appropriate arrange-ments were in place for recording med-icines but these arrangements were not always followed. Medicines were not always booked in on people’s charts and we saw two gaps in administration rec-ords.

“When details of a person’s medicines had to be written on their chart by a team leader the information was not checked and signed by a second person.

“This meant there was a greater risk of an error occurring and medicines being given incorr-ectly.”

The report added: “During our inspection of the home we found the environment to be generally clean, hygienic and well maintained”, but that “in the majority of care files looked at, documentation had not been completed accurately or was incomplete”.

The CQC will inspect the home again unann-ounced to determine whether the approp-riate action has been taken.

Jo Willmott, assistant director for provider management and market development at Wigan Council, said: “I’d like to reassure the families of people cared for at Heathside Residential Home that we are working flat out to drive up standards.

“We’re determined to improve care at the home and I believe we’ve already made good progress. We were already aware of and working hard to correct the areas highlighted by CQC during their assessment.

“Significant changes aimed at improving the quality of care have been introduced. Staff who administer medicine have received additional training.”