A review into issuing and storing equipment used to help people carry out daily tasks in Moray has been described as “absolutely atrocious”.
Internal auditors recently investigated the occupational therapy stores, overseen by Moray Integration Joint Board.
It found problems with the security of the building that prompted a councillor to say it had an “open doors” policy.
There were large differences between stock records and items that were physically there.
‘Open doors’ policy
Also there was difficulty finding equipment as it was not clearly labelled. And the same items were not always kept together.
On top of that orders and invoices were not processed through the appropriate software system.
In total 11 recommendations were highlighted during the investigation. The service has agreed to implement all of them.
At a meeting of the audit and scrutiny committee on Wednesday, councillor for Keith and Cullen Donald Gatt called the findings “pretty appalling”.
He was “utterly dismayed” the error rate for the store was 60%, and compared that to the figure allowed in stores during his time with the RAF at 2%.
Mr Gatt said: “That in no way shape or form should be acceptable to anybody.
“It’s absolutely atrocious.
“You could be forgiven for thinking nobody works in this store and it’s an open door.
60% error rate
“There are far too many things wrong with it that shouldn’t be happening at all.
“And at the end of the day we’re dealing with public money.”
He called for better staff training, adding it was a managerial problem if it was not in place.
However, chief executive Roddy Burns felt it was unfair to make the comparison between the different organisations.
He said: “What is relevant is clearly there is not an assurance around the operation of this store.
“The service has accepted all the recommendations, and it is within the gift of this committee to make further recommendation.”
Reassurances were also gives that a change in staff at the store meant workers there were more experienced.
But Mr Gatt said: “With the number of things that’s been listed, the basic question is how did it get to this state in the first place?
11 recommendations accepted
“If you think about it as pence in your pocket, and it turns out you’ve got 60p less than a pound. You’ll be asking questions on where that 60p has suddenly gone.”
Turnover for the store in 2022-23 was around £500,000.
And nearly 500 different stock items are kept there.
Councillor for Fochabers Lhanbryde Marc Macrae wanted to focus on positive aspects of the report.
And he said there were big differences between a “sidewinder missile and some PPE equipment”.
Mr Macrae added staff should be given time to get the recommendations in place. And he looked forward to a more positive follow up report.
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