Care Inspectorate rates Easter Ross care home's Covid pandemic safety measures 'adequate' following surprise visit
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
COVID support and prevention at an Easter Ross care home that looks after dozens of residents has been rated “adequate” following a snap inspection.
The Care Inspectorate gave the Catalina Care Home at Alness Point an overall rating of three - or “adequate” - out of six when it carried out the surprise inspection on January 15.
The 28 bedroom home scored a mix of two “good” and two “adequate” ratings in aspects of its Covid care. It scored good for its efforts to safeguard “people’s health and wellbeing” during the pandemic, and also for the way staffing arrangements were “responsive to the changing needs of people experiencing care”.
The “adequate” ratings were scored in the home’s “infection control practices” and in its overall score for care and support during the pandemic.
Residents who spoke to inspectors during the visit said they felt “really safe here during the pandemic”, said the staff had “done a great job” and highlighted the range of activities they had done to keep them occupied during the lockdown.
Praising the overall cleanliness of the care home, inspectors nevertheless identified some areas to work on. They said: “The environment was visibly clean, generally tidy and odour free.
“There were some areas that required further attention to detail when cleaning. For example, shared computer stations, shared kitchen area, underneath and the side of surfaces, skirting boards, white goods, soap dispensers, towel dispensers, and radiators. This was brought to the manager’s attention and an area of improvement will be made.”
They continued: “We evaluated the service to be performing at a good level. There were a number of important strengths, which, taken together, clearly outweighed areas for improvement.”
And they added: “The people we spoke with told us they were happy and felt safe during the pandemic. They felt well supported by staff and could talk to staff about any worries they had during the pandemic. We saw warm and kind relationships between staff and the people they supported.”
They added that housekeeping staff at the home said that cleaning hours had been extended to help provide “enhanced” cleaning of commonly touched surfaces and items during the pandemic.
Inspectors also said that the home had worked to address six “areas for improvement” which were identified during the last inspection on September 5, 2019.
They said the home had met calls to ensure enough staff were on duty, put in place an “effective process” to assess people’s levels of dependency, develop robust quality assurance processes, as well as work on a service improvement plan. The site had also met calls to develop care plans with residents that took account of each individual’s “wishes, preferences and needs”.
And they added that the home had also met a requirement to review residents’ care plans every six months.
Although the home showed “good evidence” of social distancing, and site was generally clean, the report raised three areas for improvement aimed at further reducing the risk of cross infection, and ensuring people experience a safe and well looked after environment. The manager was also asked to review the site’s Covid-19 contingency plan in case of an emergency or unexpected event.
