Care providers in Newtonmore, Kingussie defended after critical report.
NHS Highland has welcomed a report from the Care Inspectorate which, while acknowledging the care enjoyed by residents and their relatives at Kingussie’s Wade Centre and Newtonmore’s Mains House, rated some services as “weak” and “adequate”.
“We welcome the report and note that residents and their relatives are highly satisfied with the Wade Centre and the care and support that it provides in promoting good levels of health for the people in our care,” a spokesperson told the Strathy.
“We’re also pleased to hear that our team in the centre have been praised for ensuring safe care is delivered in a person centred manner.”
A detailed improvement plan is in place for Mains House and the review had noted that improvements had been made.
“We remain committed to that improvement plan which includes a focus on recruitment to help us reduce our reliance on agency," the spokesperson added.
"Recruitment is very challenging across health and social care but we are looking at new ways in which we can encourage people to take up roles within the sector, this work also involves work with partners as some of the challenges are not unique to us.
“We are also looking at the estate itself and will continue to work closely with the Care Inspectorate to ensure those improvements continue.”
Local Highland Councillor Muriel Cockburn told the Strathy: "I thank all the staff who work and care for our residents in our care homes.
"The NHS have taken over the running of the care home and the care inspectorate report acknowledges the good work and care for both residents and staff.
"The report also highlights a detailed improvement plan where the main challenge is recruitment , as people know across the strath recruitment is a challenge and hopefully with the help of our local community going forward we will be able to recruit the staff we need."
The Wade Centre provides a care service to 11 older people, with two places available for respite care. From April until midnight on September 30 it was agreed the service could provide an additional 29 places for older people in the building Mains House.
The inspectors noted: “There was the expectation that NHS Highland would produce an action plan for implementing previously noted environmental improvements to Mains House and to address outstanding requirements and areas for improvement.”
An unannounced inspection of both providers – in temporary arrangement until NHS Highland complete the registration process to separate them – took place between August 28 and 31
The Wade Centre was providing care in a person-centred manner and people were highly satisfied with the service, the home promoting good levels of health. It was managed by a competent leadership team but there was “a lack of clear direction and good communication between the provider NHS Highland, the leadership team and staff at Mains House. There were inadequate quality assurance systems in place at Mains House to ensure a continued level of safe care was being provided to residents...
But there were “ongoing concerns that staff were not adequately identifying and responding to some people’s health needs at Mains House, where the core staff team continued to be dedicated under “very challenging and at times difficult circumstances.”
The evaluation (from 1 unsatisfactory to 6 excellent):
How well do we support people’s wellbeing? 2 - Weak
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How good is our leadership? 2 - Weak
How good is our staff team? 3 - Adequate
How well is our care and support planned? 3 - Adequate
