Fife care home told to improve its services following unannounced inspection

These are some of the issues that the Scottish Care Inspectorate discovered during an unannounced inspection of the Rosturk House Care Home in Cupar last month.

The purpose built facility on Carslogie Road provides 24 hour care and support for up to 54 older people.

The Scottish Care Inspectorate, a scrutiny body which ensures the quality of care in the country meets high standards, spoke with residents and their relatives as part of the inspection process, and they were told that people generally felt treated with kindness.

However, the inspectors concluded that staffing arrangements and quality assurance and management oversight requires “significant improvement.”

“We concluded some people felt supported in the compassionate way we would expect,” the inspection report stated. “However, we observed that staff did not always use respectful language when talking about people. We observed staff referring to people by their room numbers during a meal time.”

The report continued: “Some people told us they could not shower as often as they would like due to staff shortages.”

The inspectors also observed people being given medication during meals, which was “not discreet or dignified.”

“Staff told us they felt rushed whilst supporting people. We therefore could not be confident that people were supported in a way that prioritised choice and dignity,” the report stated.

Care Inspectors also claimed some residents could not access their personal money at all times.

“People who had money stored by the service could not always access this,” the report said. “Access was limited to certain hours, depending on which staff were on shift. As a result people’s right to autonomy was restricted. The service should implement systems to ensure people have access to their own money all the time.”

The Care Inspectorate previously placed improvement requirements on Rosturk House, but those have gone unmet.

The Cupar Care Home was told it must improve its complaint procedure – ensuring each complaint is fully investigated and responded to within 20 days.

The report claimed that record keeping in relation to complaints received was “inadequate and did not reflect a robust investigation and reporting process”.

“While it was positive that the complaints policy had been updated, we could not find evidence that this informed improved practice around complaint handling,” the inspection said. “Recording of complaints and concerns was minimal and there was no evidence learning was taken from this. Staff told us they were not confident raising concerns with management. Staff told us they did not have confidence that concerns they did raise would be acted upon. Reviews of staff practice were not being undertaken by management.”

The Care Inspectorate agreed to extend the timescale of this requirement to November 28, 2023 to allow the service to further demonstrate how they respond to complaints and concerns.

The Care Inspectorate uses a six-point scale for evaluating care facilities. Rosturk House was rated as a 3 for “adequate” for supporting people’s wellbeing, care setting and how well care and support are planned. The service was rated as 2 for “weak” in terms of leadership and staff team.

Rosturk Care Home has been contacted for comment.