A Renfrewshire care home has appointed a new management team after records sampled by inspectors evidenced people were having “on average one or two baths/showers per month".

In evaluating how well Elderslie Care Home supports wellbeing, “significant weaknesses which compromised people's health, welfare and safety” were found.

Two residents also told those carrying out the recent inspection that they had “not been offered a shower or bath for a number of weeks".

“Significant concerns in relation to the safe administration of medications including controlled drugs” were also raised in the report.

Furthermore, where people had been prescribed “a specific diet to reduce the risk of choking this was not always provided".

After stating there were high volumes of soiled laundry, including bedding being sent to the laundry each day, inspectors reported that “evidence of significant contamination on people's own and shared furniture was also a cause for concern".

The large purpose-built care home, on Fulbar Road on the outskirts of Paisley, is run by Advinia Care Homes Ltd and is registered with the Care Inspectorate to provide a service to 120 older people.

There were 67 people using the service at the time of the unannounced inspection which commenced on February 19 and was carried out by three inspectors.

As a result of significant concerns found in relation to infection prevention and control, a serious concern letter was issued to the provider on February 21.

Inspectors then returned to the service on February 24 and found that improvements had been made to satisfy the letter of serious concern.

The remainder of the inspection was completed between February 27 and March 3.

As a result of significant concerns in relation to the provision of safe and effective care, leadership and management of the service and staff knowledge and skills in key areas including adult support and protection, an improvement notice was issued to the provider on March 21.

To prepare for the inspection, inspectors reviewed information about the care home, including previous inspection findings, registration information, information submitted by the care home and intelligence gathered since the last inspection.

In making their evaluations, they spoke with 11 people using the service and observed others who were less able to share their views, spoke with three of their family members, spoke with 18 staff and management members, observed practice and daily life, reviewed documents and spoke with two external professionals.

Using a six-point scale where one is unsatisfactory and six is excellent, four of the five areas evaluated, including ‘how well do we support people’s wellbeing?’, ‘how good is our leadership?’, ‘how good is our staff team?’ and ‘how well is our care and support planned?’ were graded as unsatisfactory.

In the ‘how good is our setting?’ category, strengths were found to just outweigh weaknesses and this was given a rating of three, meaning adequate.

According to inspectors, the key messages of the report were as follows.

Leadership and management within the home need to improve to ensure those who use the service are receiving safe and effective care interventions as planned and when unplanned events occur.

Communication and consultation with the people who use the service and their family/representative need to improve.

To ensure people get the most out of life, opportunities to participate in meaningful activities should be improved.

Staff training and development processes must be improved to ensure staff have the required knowledge, skills and competence to meet people's needs.

Another key message was that cleaning arrangements must be improved, and environmental improvements achieved, to ensure people benefit from a safe, clean and comfortable living environment.

A spokesperson for Advinia told the Gazette: “The safety and wellbeing of our residents is our highest priority, and we fully acknowledge the findings of the Care Inspectorate in their latest report.

“Following this inspection, we immediately put in place a robust action plan to address the issues identified and significant improvements have already been made.

“Meanwhile, we have appointed a new management team at Elderslie to implement and oversee these changes, which includes a comprehensive training review to ensure our dedicated colleagues can enhance their knowledge and skills.

“The entire team continues to work in close partnership with the Care Inspectorate, the local authority and our other stakeholders, and we look forward to evidencing the continued improvements at the home in the weeks and months ahead.”