Improvements made at Fife care home following earlier inspection report

However, a recent report from the Scottish Care Inspectorate has noted improvements and a better quality of life for residents since.

Craigie’s House, operated by Holmes Care Group Scotland Ltd, is a well established care home for people over the age of 65 in Crossgates. The care home was re-registered with the Care Inspectorate in May of this year to provide 24 hour care and support for up to 30 people.

However, a full inspection in June concluded that residents were “experiencing significantly poor outcomes as a result of using the service.” A surprise inspection in September revealed the improvements that have since been made.

In June, the Scottish Care Inspectorate, a scrutiny body which ensures the quality of care in the country meets high standards, found that some Craigie’s House residents were underweight and left in pain while staffing levels were reportedly inadequate.

“People were at risk because their nutrition and hydration needs were not met. People did not always have access to fluids. We found people who were underweight were not weighed in line with the provider’s policies and guidelines,” the inspection report from June said.

“When people lost additional weight, we could not find evidence that action was taken to address these concerns. Poor record keeping and monitoring of people’s dietary and fluid intake further increased the risks to people.”

Inspectors also reported that groups of people were left for long periods in the middle of the lounge before being transferred out of wheelchairs into more comfortable seating.

“We saw this was causing discomfort and pain to some people and this was not recognised by staff,” inspectors reported.

Inspectors also described mealtimes as “chaotic” with some residents left without a drink and some were not offered all courses of their meal.

“People were not always given a choice of the meals on offer and some people sat for long periods without being served or interacted with,” the report continued.

“Some people were not offered all courses, until we intervened, because the staff were so busy. Some people were not offered a drink and those that were, were not always encouraged to drink it, again due to lack of staff presence and oversight of the mealtime.”

Since then, Craigie’s House has been required to make a series of improvements, and the Care Inspectorate has reported some progress. In the most recent unannounced inspection, inspectors said they were “pleased to see improved outcomes for people using the service.”

Since June, the care home has appointed a new manager and implemented a new service improvement plan. Training and staff support have also become a priority and better nutrition monitoring is in place.

A spokesperson for Craigie House said: “After the last inspection identified concerns with some aspects of care, we promised to act. We are pleased the Care Inspectorate report acknowledges the substantial improvements to the service we have delivered.”

The spokesperson continued: “We appointed a new manager in June who has worked closely with the senior team to implement a robust service improvement plan, based around increased training and support for staff. The health, safety and wellbeing of residents will always be our top priority, and we will continue to make improvements to enhance the lives of everyone in our home.”

The Care Inspectorate ranks care homes on a six point scale where 1 is unsatisfactory and 6 is excellent.

In June, inspectors marked Craigie’s House Care Home as weak – a number 2 on the scale – for leadership, staff, and residents’ wellbeing. The most recent inspection marked the care home as adequate – a number 3 on the scale – across all three areas.

“The management and staff have worked hard to meet the outstanding requirements and areas for improvement, and improve standards,” the report concluded. “We have extended the timescale for two outstanding requirements to enable the provider to make the necessary further improvements.”