A Shetland care home has come under scrutiny after inspectors raised concerns about the safety and quality of care provided to residents.
In an unannounced visit to the Walter and Joan Gray care home in Scalloway in November, the Care Inspectorate discovered “serious” understaffing issues which had resulted in residents eating meals brought in from restaurants or eating reheated pre-prepared meals.
The inspection highlighted several concerns, with three of the five areas assessed receiving the second-lowest rating for resident wellbeing, staff quality, and the home environment.
The remaining two areas – wellbeing support and planning – were rated as “adequate.”
Staff shortages compromised people’s needs
Despite residents being supported to participate in meaningful activities, the inspectorate said this was compromised by staffing shortages.
They said there was no activity co-ordinator in the home for several months, and there was no contingency plan in place so activities could continue.
In addition, the service had experienced a period of high staff turnover and was relying on agency and newly recruited staff with limited experience to fill key roles.
The inspectors added that they saw agency staff working “excessive hours” in some cases.
New staff were also not adequately supported to develop their skills as experienced colleagues did not have the time or the capacity to support them sufficiently.
Inspectors also noted that the service had experienced a high level of medication errors in recent months, but managers had taken action to improve medication practice.
They also raised concerns that staff members had limited understanding of Adult Support and Protection (ASP).
The service had identified a number of people experiencing weight loss, but it was not clear how they had been supported to improve their nutritional intake, the report said.
Domestic staff covering cook’s absence
The inspectors also found that the contingency plans to cover the cook’s absence were “insufficient”.
“Contingency arrangements to cover the cook’s absence were insufficient and resulted in people eating meals brought in from external restaurants or eating reheated pre-prepared meals,” the inspectors said.
“Domestic staff had been re-deployed to cover kitchen duties but had
not completed training to understand their responsibility for safe storage and preparation of food.”
In addition, the inspectors said that safety and maintenance arrangements in the home needed to improve to keep people safe.
Several fire doors were not operating effectively which meant people would be at risk in the event of a fire.
Improvements were also needed to cleaning arrangements to reduce the risk of the spread of infection in communal areas.
Carpets, radiators, water coolers and lounge chairs were branded “dusty” and “dirty”.
However, the home was praised on the “warm and comfortable” setting as well as “clean and fresh” rooms which were personalised with many photographs.
Walter and Joan Gray Care Home has been contacted for comment.
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