INSPECTORS have raised concerns that a Helensburgh nursing home is “not effectively managing risks” to ensure that residents’ health, welfare, and safety needs are being met.

Care Inspectorate officials visited Morar Lodge in Glasgow Street at the beginning of March to follow up on a previous inspection in November, which had graded the quality of care and support provided at the home during the Covid-19 pandemic as “adequate”.

The regulator outlined several “areas for improvement”, including ensuring that the facility is always kept tidy and hygienic, reviewing people’s “personal plans” to ensure better management of information, and enhanced training for staff.

However, the latest report, published on the Care Inspectorate website, says the home has failed to meet some of the key criteria from the first report – and further concerns have been noted.

The report says: “We sampled care plans and noted that whilst important information in relation to the monitoring of residents’ health and wellbeing was being recorded, this was not well evaluated.

“An example of this was that although staff were using the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) for assessing people’s risk of malnutrition, this was not being completed correctly. Consequently, key opportunities for interventions were missed where weight loss was noted. These could have included weekly weight monitoring, food and fluid monitoring, food fortification and onward referral to the dietician where necessary.

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“There were no formal systems in place to ensure that people self-isolating in their rooms were regularly being offered drinks.

“Falls documentation was in use but staff were not always completing this correctly.

“We had concerns that the service was not effectively managing these risks to ensure that the health, welfare, and safety needs of people were being fully met.”

The report states that “improvements were needed” to “ensure that governance systems are effective and the support being delivered is robust and contributes to positive health outcomes for residents”.

Inspectors said cleaning schedules had improved, and all areas of the service were “free from unnecessary clutter”. However, whilst an infection control audit had been completed in December and had helped to drive improvements, “more frequent evaluation of the systems in place was needed, proportionate to the ongoing concerns in relation to Covid-19”.

The report states: “For instance, we highlighted that here was no system in place to evidence that equipment which was being shared by more than one resident was cleaned after each use.

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“There were no systems to evidence that staff were conversant and compliant with infection prevention and control guidance and at all times applying up to date guidance to their practice."

It was noted that staff had completed additional training since the last inspection, including infection prevention and control and Covid-19 training, and that area for improvement had been met.

The report continues: “There continued to be a lack of effective governance. There was no formal system in place to assess staff competence.

“The manager was unable to provide evidence to suggest that the direct observation of staff was being carried out to ensure that knowledge and learning was being embedded into day-to-day staff practices.

“It was unclear how the service was promoting opportunities for staff to reflect on their practice and discuss new and changing guidance in relation to effective infection prevention and control management.”

More detailed analysis of medication prescription to residents was also listed as an area for improvement, with a new deadline of April set for meeting most points.

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Helena Dormer, owner of Morar Lodge, told the Advertiser: “We are pleased to note improvement noted as having been made in each of the areas identified and are in the process of reviewing and developing a plan to identify further improvements.

“The coronavirus pandemic has presented many challenges to nursing homes throughout Scotland and we are delighted that Morar Lodge has remained Covid-free since the first lockdown 12 months ago.

“We have received many accolades from all our families of residents and from many health care professionals regarding this exemplary achievement.

“In large part this is down to our dedicated staff who put the wellbeing of our residents first at all times.

“I applaud the staff and management at Morar Lodge for their high clinical standards of care and commitment to hygiene and strictly following Covid rules - this we did get right.”

The report can be viewed in full on the Care Inspectorate website.