Improvements have been ordered by the Care Inspectorate at The Meadows Care Home in Huntly due to concerns it is not meeting its legal requirements.
A warning has been issued by officials that the Burnside Road home could have its registration cancelled unless it makes changes.
Staff have been given until September 11 to make the ordered improvements or face further action being taken.
Meadows Care Home, which is run by a private operator called The Meadows Care (Huntly), provides care for up to 43 older people.
It has two wings, Kirkney and Isla, with the latter providing care specifically for those living with dementia.
The Meadows Care Home has apologised for “falling short” of the standards it wants and stressed it was working with agencies to make improvements within the deadline.
What improvements have been ordered at Meadows Care Home?
The Care Inspectorate has ordered four improvements to be made at The Meadows Care Home in Huntly.
- By August 28, it must ensure an effective fall prevention strategy is in place to ensure risk assessments are in place, fall plans are accessible to all staff, when falls occur staff assess the wellbeing of the resident with medical advice taken if necessary and there is improved oversight to identify trends.
- By August 28, staff must ensure there is safe and appropriate nutritional care with a record of those at risk of weight loss, completed food intake charts, resident meal preferences are catered for and oversight to ensure residents are eating well.
- By September 11, it must ensure residents experience a service that is well-managed and led with enough qualified and skilled staff on every shift, managers have an up-to-date record of weights, wounds and falls and there is an action plan for improvements.
- By September 11, residents with dementia should receive care to promote their health and independence with triggers that cause stress and distress documented and known by staff, employees have knowledge and skills to support residents when stressed or distressed, charts recording episodes of distress that are kept up-to-date and oversight to ensure there is ongoing assessments of staff skills to ensure they can support those with dementia.
What has Care Inspectorate said previously about Huntly home?
The Care Inspectorate’s last inspection report about The Meadows Care Home was completed on August 19 last year.
Inspectors noted it appeared that care had been given to people to ensure they were looking their best.
However, concerns were raised that there was a “lack of stimulation and activity” and improvements were needed to the variety of meals.
Further improvements were also asked for to ensure sufficient management of wounds and the preferences of residents needed to be obtained to help inform their care
The Care Inspectorate graded the home as “adequate” in all areas following the inspection, which is 3/6 on a sliding scale where 1 is “unsatisfactory” and 6 is “excellent”. It received the same grade during a visit in January last year.
A Meadows Care Home spokesman said: “We take our responsibilities as a provider of care extremely seriously and we are sorry that the home has fallen short of the standards we want and that residents and their loved ones rightly expect.
“We are working closely with the Care Inspectorate, the Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership and the team at The Meadows to address areas of concern. We are confident that the issues raised by the Care Inspectorate will be quickly resolved within the timescales in our action plan.
“The health, wellbeing and safety of our residents is our absolute priority, and we will continue to work closely with stakeholders to ensure we are providing the highest quality care for every resident.”
