Concern over staffing levels and 'weak leadership' at Dornoch care home
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Operators of a Dornoch care home say they are working hard to overcome issues identified in a Care Inspectorate report as impacting on the health and wellbeing of elderly residents.
Oversteps Care Home, which is run by Crossreach - the operating name of the Social Care Council of the Church of Scotland - was found not to have enough staff to meet the needs of its occupants.
The home had vacancies across all departments and was relying on agency staff to cope, according to a newly published report. Other issues were also flagged up with leadership rated as “weak”.
However, Crossreach said the situation had changed in the two-month interval between the inspection visit and the report being published, with more staff having been recruited.
An unannounced visit to the home, located at Earl's Cross Road, was made by two inspectors from 11-13 May. At the time there were 21 people living there, although the service can cater for up to 24. Their report was made public last week.
Inspectors spoke with seven service users and four staff and management. They also considered online survey responses from residents' family and friends as well as staff.
In addition they "observed practice and daily life, reviewed documents and spoke with visiting professionals".
Inspectors praised staff as "kind and caring" and said they knew the residents well.
But the report states: "We found that staffing levels were not right to fully meet people's needs…..half of the relatives who responded to our survey said there were not enough staff to care for their relative or friend properly.”
Residents told inspectors that sometimes they had to "wait for assistance" and staff had "little time for speaking with people".
The report noted that the staffing problem meant that residents at risk of falling could not be monitored at busy times. In April there had been a high number of falls.
Of particular concern was the lack of an activities coordinator which meant that residents were sitting for prolonged periods of time with limited stimulation - although staff did provide some small group activities in the afternoon such as bingo and knit and natter.
Inspectors observed that the residents with dementia were either “very restless or sleeping in their chairs".
It was noted that the home was hoping to engage volunteers and the wider community to support activities.
It emerged in the report that there had been a “recent investigation by NHS Highland into concerns about the care and support of people living in Oversteps”. Crossreach senior managers had completed an audit of the issues raised.
Crossreach is now being required to ensure by August that there are "sufficient staff on duty throughout the day and evening to support individuals to participate in a range of activities of their choice both indoors and outdoors".
The report used a six point scale - with one being unsatisfactory and six being excellent - to assess the home in five fields.
Its leadership was rated as weak (two on the scale) with some strengths “outweighed by significant weaknesses in relation to leadership, quality assurance and improvement”.
Inspectors judged Oversteps to be adequate (three) in three fields - its staff team; its support for people’s well being and its care and support planning.
However the home’s setting, both inside and out, was judged to be good (four), although it was felt the garden was underused.
A spokesman for Crossreach said: “We are pleased that the Care Inspectorate identified that staff have positive and warm relationships with residents and provide kind and respectful care in a comfortable, clean and well looked after homely setting.
"Recruitment in the social care sector is particularly challenging at the moment.
"However, since the inspection we have been successful in recruiting to a number of key positions including activity coordinator and are continuing to work hard to support our dedicated staff and remediate the issues identified in the report.”
