{"id":358057,"date":"2026-04-01T05:39:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T05:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/358057\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T05:39:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T05:39:19","slug":"residents-given-wrong-medicine-amounts-at-melton-care-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/358057\/","title":{"rendered":"Residents \u2018given wrong medicine amounts\u2019 at Melton care home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Multiple residents at a Leicestershire<\/a> care home were given the \u201cwrong dose\u201d of medicine, while inspectors also found some medication with \u201cincorrect expiry dates\u201d, a report has revealed.<\/p>\n

The Amwell Care Home, in Melton\u2019s Asfordby Road, was visited by Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors in December 2025, months after it had been given a rating of \u2018Inadequate\u2019 \u2013 the lowest mark possible \u2013 by the watchdog.<\/p>\n

The care home had earlier in 2025 been placed in special measures after the CQC was told residents were \u201cregularly\u201d heard \u201ccrying out for help\u201d.<\/p>\n

The care home was also found in breach of safe care and treatment, nutrition and hydration, and management.<\/p>\n

However, in its latest inspection, which was published on 24 March, CQC inspectors found that the care home had improved but still said it \u2018Requires Improvement\u2019 \u2013 the second lowest mark.<\/p>\n

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Inspectors rated the care home as \u201cgood\u201d in areas of effectiveness, caring and responsiveness; however, they said it needed improvement in safety and being well led.<\/p>\n

According to the report, inspectors \u201cidentified two separate incidents\u201d where, according to medicine charts, residents were given \u201cthe wrong dose of their prescribed medicine\u201d.<\/p>\n

These incidents, they said, \u201chad not been recorded as errors, and the home manager was unaware of them until they were brought up during the inspection\u201d.<\/p>\n

The watchdog also raised concerns after finding \u201ctwo liquid medicines \u2026 found without a recorded opening date\u201d, saying it was \u201cnot possible for staff to confirm whether the products were still within their recommended shelf life\u201d.<\/p>\n

Inspectors also found \u201csome medicines with reduced expiry periods once opened\u201d that \u201chad been labelled with incorrect expiry dates\u201d.<\/p>\n

Staffing was also a concern for inspectors, who claimed that the care home \u201cdid not always make sure there were enough qualified, skilled and experienced staff\u201d.<\/p>\n

CQC staff found that \u201cthere was a heavy reliance on agency staff, and staff told us they felt more permanent staff were needed\u201d.<\/p>\n

One staff member told inspectors: \u201cWe use agency quite often, some are very good, but for some it\u2019s their first time. We need more in-house staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, Amwell bosses said they were \u201cactively trying to recruit permanent staff\u201d, but it was \u201cproving challenging\u201d. Similar concerns were also echoed by relatives of the care home residents.<\/p>\n

One relative told inspectors: \u201cThere was a big shift to agency people; they are pleasant enough, but it\u2019s not ideal. They don\u2019t have time to go through care plans with agency people. I spoke to the manager a month ago about it. They said they were trying to recruit their own staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another relative said: \u201cThere were times when staffing levels could be improved, mainly at weekends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the concerns, inspectors said that the care home \u201csupported and treated [people] with dignity and respect\u201d, whilst \u201coutcomes were consistently good\u201d.<\/p>\n

Inspectors previously labelled Amwell\u2019s effectiveness as \u2018Inadequate\u2019; however, this time around, \u201cimprovements were found\u201d, and they said that \u201cthe provider made sure people\u2019s care and treatment was effective by assessing and reviewing their health, care, wellbeing and communication needs with them\u201d.<\/p>\n

CQC bosses also found that \u201cstaff were kind and caring\u201d, whilst \u201cfeedback from relatives was mostly positive\u201d.<\/p>\n

They also found that \u201cpeople had access to activities, although improvements were required to ensure those who wished to remain in their rooms or were unable to leave their rooms were able to engage in meaningful activities\u201d.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for The Amwell said: \u201cWe always take feedback from the CQC extremely seriously and have made significant improvements since the previous inspection. We are pleased that we are no longer in special measures and are rated \u2018good\u2019 in key areas, including caring, responsive and effective.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are committed to delivering the highest standards of care to our residents, and when irregularities were raised during the inspection in January, we took immediate action to address these. In particular, we have strengthened our processes around medicine administration, and subsequent visits and audits from both the regulator and the local authority have confirmed that these are now being managed effectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are committed to continuing to build on the progress we have made, and we look forward to welcoming the CQC back to the home in due course.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Multiple residents at a Leicestershire care home were given the \u201cwrong dose\u201d of medicine, while inspectors also found…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[134,527,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-358057","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}