An Oldham care home providing support for people with complex needs following a brain injury has been ordered to improve by the healthcare watchdog.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) published a report into Boston House on Friday, February 10 following visits in November and December last year.

The service, run by Accomplish Group Limited, was told it needed to improve in the areas of safety and leadership.

It follows previous reports ordering the home to improve in 2021 and 2020.

While the Broadway Street home was praised for having systems in place to protect residents from abuse, as well as for efforts to minimize health and safety risks and for following infection prevention control, inspectors noted that medicine was not always handled safely.

The CQC concluded that this was a breach of regulations under the Health and Social Care Act.

While medicines were said to be stored securely, with records showing they had been given to people as prescribed, staff did not always follow the proper procedures for providing some medicine.

Additionally, times doses were given were not recorded – meaning proper time intervals between doses may not have been observed.

Furthermore, medicines were not always stored at a safe temperature – with records showing medicine fridges outside of the safe range on ‘numerous occasions’.

Inspectors said this meant they "were not assured medicines that required storage in a fridge were safe to use", though there was no evidence people had been harmed because of this.

The CQC said the care home provider responded during and after the inspection to put an action plan in place to address these issues.

While issues related to medicines management identified in previous reports had been addressed, the new issues meant the rating could not be upgraded from "requires improvement", as this requires consistently good practice over time.

The practice’s leadership was also ordered to improve its auditing and governance, though it was praised for its "open and transparent approach" and "person-centred" culture.

Accomplish Group Limited was contacted for a comment about the report.

The full report can be read on the CQC website.