‘Serious concerns’ as Care Inspectorate orders Falkland care home to make immediate improvements

It has handed a list of actions to be implemented within weeks at Lomond View Care Home in Falkland. The home, which has 50 single beds, is run by Holmes Care Group Scotland Ltd.

The Care Inspectorate issued an improvement notice to the owners after a recent inspection identified “serious and significant concerns about the quality of care experienced by residents” and gave them until December 6 to make the changes.

A spokesperson said: “We understand this is a difficult and distressing time for residents, their families and staff at the service. However, our first priority is always the health and wellbeing of residents of the service.

"Because of our concerns about the safety of residents we have issued an Improvement Notice to the service. This sets out the significant improvements that must be made within a specified timeframe. We are in contact with and monitoring the service to follow up on the required improvements. "If we are not satisfied that sustained improvement has been made we will not hesitate to take further action.”

The Inspectorate warned that unless improvements were made it would consider making moves to cancel the home’s registration under the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act.

The notice said it must ensure that residents’ health, safety and wellbeing needs are being accurately assessed, documented, met, and are effectively communicated between all relevant staff. Any risks must be identified and recorded. The Inspectorate wants residents’ health and wellbeing needs consistently care required, stating: “This should include, as a minimum, monitoring and evaluation of stress/distress, wound care, falls management, and nutrition management.”

The improvement notice also ordered that staff are adequately trained to meet their needs of service, and that residents experience a service which is well led and managed and which results in better outcomes for service users through a culture of continuous improvement, underpinned by transparent quality assurance processes.

And the home must ensure that their health, safety and wellbeing is protected as a result of improved oversight in relation to falls. In the event of someone falling, medical advice and assistance should be sought timeously where appropriate, and arrangements made to observe and monitor to determine whether there has been any deterioration in the resident’s health.

It also told the home it “must protect the health and welfare of service users by ensuring that medication is administered as prescribed and that any pain they experience is identified and treated timeously.” The notice warned that where more than one improvement is specified, failure to demonstrate compliance with any one of the improvements within the required timescale may result in steps to cancel its registration.

A spokesperson for Holmes Care Group said: “We pride ourselves on the high-quality care and support our hardworking team provides to residents every day. We take all Care Inspectorate reports extremely seriously and are disappointed that their inspection has resulted in an improvement notice. The senior management team are closely supporting the home management team to implement the necessary improvements in the service.

“We are working with the Care Inspectorate to ensure that the improvements which have already been made are maintained and sustained for the long term.”

The Care Inspectorate’s notice has been sent to Fife Council.