An Aberdeen care home has been slammed by inspectors after relatives said they had lost all confidence in staff who failed to deliver on promises that improvements would be made.
The Care Inspectorate said it had “significant concerns” about the way residents were being cared for at Kingsmead Nursing Home at Kingswells following unannounced inspections last month.
When the care watchdog interviewed their families, some said they had “lost confidence” in the senior management team – and that they had “heard all the promises before”.
Another felt that “none of the staff” listened to their concerns and that the care “does not change or improve”.
The inspectors were also concerned about the language some staff used, saying they showed “little respect” towards the residents, like referring to meal times as “feeding time”.
“Residents have the right to be treated with dignity and have their privacy respected,” it was noted.
The inspectors also had further “significant concerns” that bosses had employed people without making appropriate checks to assess if they were suitable for looking after vulnerable people, include those suffering from dementia, mental illness, and learning disabilities.
The Care Inspectorate awarded the service some of the lowest possible grades for how it is run, including a grade 1 – “unsatisfactory” – for the quality of staff.
Earlier this year, the home was also badly criticised after inspectors found there was little respect for some residents’ self esteem and dignity.
A persistent unpleasant odour was noted throughout the home, and equipment, including commode chairs and mattresses, were found to be in need of a deep clean.
In the latest review, inspectors did praise the home for now being “clean, tidy and odour free”.
They noted that a new manager had recently taken up post, and said there was a small core of staff that were kind, caring and appeared to “genuinely do their best” to provide good care and support for the residents.
Last night, a spokeswoman for Mead Medical Services, which operates the home, said inspectors had visited the home again since November and that the grades were beginning to improve.