Nearly half of Brits are concerned the funding gap for UK care homes will result in a poorer quality of medicine management (46 per cent), according to a recent report.

A quarter of the respondents, who have an elderly relative in a care home, also worry about them being given the wrong medicine (26 per cent) and how this could impact on their health, while 36 per cent cited accurate medicine management as a priority when choosing a care home for the first time.

Well Careplus, which manages medication in more than 500 care homes across the UK, asked 2,000 adults about the concerns they have for their elderly relatives, as it launches medicine management system – the Well Pad.

A respondent, who asked to remain anonymous, said, ‘My grandmother was given the wrong medicine, which made her ill and I was extremely worried it would cause her serious harm.’

Shiraz Khan, Head of Careplus Customer Experience for Well, said, ‘With effective medicine management being at the core of the Well Careplus service, the results of this research exemplifies the need for innovation in the field.

‘One respondent in particular said their relative had been given the wrong medication, which caused an allergic reaction – something which simply shouldn’t happen in UK care homes.

‘We use the Well Pad as part of the Well Careplus service, which ensures common mistakes – such as giving medicine to the wrong resident or giving medicine too soon – are eradicated, thanks to its unique barcode technology and a photograph of the patient being saved on the system.’

The report follows an evaluation of the Well Pad’s technology by the School of Pharmacy at Cardiff University, which found 21 out of 23 types of errors, relating to medicine management, could be avoided with the use of the Well Pad. The technology was found to reduce: overstocking of medicines by 22 per cent, returned medicine wastage by 55 per cent, missing medication administration entries on the residents’ records by 80 per cent and over 92 per cent of participating care homes said they would not wish to return to paper based systems.