‘Ban use of controlling drugs in care homes’

CARE homes should crack down on the widespread use of mood- altering drugs amid concerns they are used for “behaviour control” of elderly residents, MSPs said in a report today.

The Scottish Government is being urged to look into the issue as part of a national review of care standards.

Holyrood’s health committee launched an inquiry into standards in the aftermath of the death of a resident at the Elsie Inglis nursing home in Edinburgh, as well as the collapse of care home operator Southern Cross.

Committee convener Duncan McNeil said: “We need to ensure that Scotland maintains its lead in the regulation of the social care workforce. We believe that a review of the national care standards with human rights at its heart will achieve that.”

About 75 per cent of people in care homes are taking one or more “psychoactive” medicines, MSPs were told during their inquiry, with many involved in the “inappropriate” prescribing of the drugs to people with dementia.

Dr Donald Lyons, of the Mental Welfare Commission Scotland, told MSPs: “Much medication was being used not for improving mood, which anti-depressants can help with and might be underused in care homes, but for sedation and behaviour control.”

Dr John Gillies, of the Royal College of General Practitioners Scotland, added: “There is a risk of drugs being used not because they are really needed but because it is a quick fix in a complex situation.”

MSPs are now calling for greater clinical pharmacy involvement in care homes, as well as improvements in the way staff are trained and drugs are prescribed.

“The committee was concerned by the evidence it received regarding the widespread prescription of the psychoactive medications to residents of care homes,” today’s report states.

The Care Inspectorate is now being called on to collaborate with the Mental Welfare Commission to provide guidance and information on the use of these drugs. “The issue should be considered as part of a review of national care standards,” the report adds.

It is ten years since the current national care standards were drafted and today’s report says a review would allow “equality and human rights” to be incorporated into them.

It should also be made easier for staff and residents to make complaints to the Care Commission about poor care. Many residents don’t want to complain because they fear repercussions or upsetting the relationship they have with the home in which they are cared for.

The privately run Elsie Inglis nursing home in Edinburgh shut down in May this year while under police investigation after a 59-year-old resident died in hospital two days after becoming unwell in the home.

The committee report also calls for a living wage to be paid to all care home workers who have been “undervalued” in recent years.

The Scottish Government should also speed up the current timetable it has to ensure that all care home staff across Scotland are officially registered.