Durnhythe Care Home in Portsoy handed damning inspection report that brands majority of services ‘weak’
A care home has been handed a damning inspection report by the Care Inspectorate.
Two inspectors conducted an unannounced visit at Durnhythe Care Home in Portsoy, which is run by Aberdeenshire Council, in February.
The newly published report rates the home as weak in terms of leadership, supporting people’s needs and care and support planning, while bare pass marks were awarded for the categories of ‘How good is our staff team?’ and ‘How good is our setting?’.
The Care Inspectorate use a sliding scale to evaluate care homes, ranging from 1 (unsatisfactory) through to 6 (excellent).
The inspection report has outlined a raft of improvements that Durnhythe management must have in place by April 7.
A spokesperson for the Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership, said: "We are, naturally, disappointed with the results from the recent inspection at Durnhythe Care Home and have put in place a rapid improvement plan.
"We are currently working with our staff team to ensure that all of the improvements we will make are long lasting and impactful."
While some strengths in terms of leadership were recognised, the inspectors felt that these were “compromised by significant weaknesses”. Among the areas of improvement identified were increasing oversight of people’s care, including better communication to ensure that needs identified on care plans are being met.
Information gleaned from various monitoring processes, such as daily walk rounds, was not found to have been analysed effectively in order to improve care, while the inspectors felt that the complaints process - as well as learning from issues flagged up as a result - was lacking.
In terms of supporting wellbeing, many plus points, including “kind and respectful” staff, comfortable surroundings and a range of activities to participate in, were noted. However, these were outweighed by failures in communication over residents’ care needs and tracking changing care needs.
Among the areas deemed weak by the inspectors were inadequately completed staff handover sheets, unclear guidance on the administration of medication, and inconsistently completed and updated nutritional assessments.
The planning of care and support was also condemned as weak by the inspection team. They found that the care plans sampled were “of a poor quality and lacked information and detail. Information was sometimes inaccurate or incomplete”. In one case, a new resident at the home had no information recorded on their care plan.
The inspectors went on to say there was “little evidence” of family members being involved with the care planning process. Many documents, including care plans and risk assessments, were neither dated nor signed.
Durnhythe’s staff team were described as “kind, warm and caring” although the report stated that overall “strengths only just outweighed weaknesses”, awarding an adequate grade to the category. Again, a lack of clarity as to how people’s ongoing needs were factored into their care plans was raised.
A number of care staff vacancies at the home meant that, in the inspectors’ view, there was an impact on the service delivered to residents, especially in terms of care planning.
They said: “It is essential that the skill mix is right and that there are enough staff on duty to assess people's needs, plan care and give direction to other care staff on how to meet people's needs.”
These shortfalls in cover were found to be having an impact on care staff themselves, with many working extra shifts which at times was to the detriment of their wellbeing.
There were also criticisms of the home’s management, with some staff saying they felt “unsupported” and did not receive regular supervision. Communication could also be improved, the inspectors said, particularly around handovers, with infrequent team meetings - the last one prior to the inspection being six months before - also in the firing line.
The report also noted that the inspectors were unable to view the management team's oversight of training and supervision, so they could not be confident that staff had up-to-date training.
The final area assessed as part of the inspection was that of the care home’s setting. The inspectors highlighted that there were many positive factors to take into account. The environment at Durnhythe was praised for being clean, tidy and comfortable, with a large outdoors space, a library and sensory area available for residents to use.
However, the inspectors felt that this strength “just outweighed” the weaknesses they found. The lack of window restrictors on the first floor presented a “serious risk” to safety as these windows could be opened fully. While action was taken to remedy this within 72 hours the inspectors nevertheless felt concerned that this was not picked up by the home’s safety and environmental audit.
The full report can be accessed here.
