A SCOTTISH care home has been ordered to make urgent improvements or face having its registration cancelled.
The Care Inspectorate has served a formal improvement notice to Livingston Care Home after an inspection raised serious concerns.
Staff have been ordered to ensure residents’ personal hygiene needs are met and they are given help to bathe and/or shower regularly and have their teeth brushed twice a day.
Age Scotland hit out at care home managers, stating that there is “no excuse for poor quality care”.
The home, for older people, has also been told to ensure there are “suitably qualified and competent persons” working at all times to meet the health and safety needs of residents. The notice lists seven areas requiring urgent improvement.
READ MORE: Care Inspectorate moving residents out of Elmgrove Care Home
A Care Inspectorate spokesperson said: “The quality of care experienced by residents at this home is not good enough to meet individual needs. The improvement notice we have issued clearly lays out the improvements we must see so that the care experienced by residents improves quickly.
“We will visit this care home again soon to check on progress and if we are not satisfied that the matters raised are being addressed urgently we will not hesitate to take further action.
“Everyone in Scotland has the right to safe, compassionate care which meets their needs and respects their rights.”
The notice warns unless there is “significant improvement” by December 1, the inspectorate will make a proposal to cancel the home’s registration. It also orders the Four Seasons Health Care-run home to ensure residents receive the food and fluids they require.
Inspectors said the home should put in place consistent, good quality and effective management and improve the quality of care being delivered. Staff must record any accidents appropriately and ensure authorities are notified.
Age Scotland chief executive Brian Sloan said the notice was “deeply concerning”. He added: “We know the care sector is under a lot of strain, but there’s no excuse for poor quality care. We hope that Livingston Care Home is urgently addressing these shortcomings and putting in place an improvement plan.”
A Four Seasons Health Care spokesperson said: “We understand the areas in which we must urgently improve and have been implementing a comprehensive action plan to ensure changes are made.
“The delivery of this plan is being managed by senior colleagues who have specialist expertise in improving the quality and experience of care and we remain committed to reaching a higher standard as soon as is feasible.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here