Community / Care home planning new admissions after making improvements
THE OPERATOR of the Walter and Joan Gray care home in Scalloway says its recent ‘weak’ grades have been revised upwards after positive follow-up visits from inspectors.
A spokesperson for CrossReach said the service has met all requirements and areas of improvement with no further issues raised by the Care Inspectorate.
As a result it is planning new admissions again after a “moratorium” was lifted.
It comes after an often critical inspection report from the Care Inspectorate late last year which graded the 16-bedroom care home ‘weak’ in a few categories, with ‘adequate’ ratings in the others.
A meeting of the NHS Shetland board in February heard that the ‘weak’ ratings, which were issued by the Care Inspectorate in November, had meant the care home was unable to take new admissions.
With spare beds lying empty, this was “compounding” a high level of delayed discharge from hospital, the meeting heard.
However, a spokesperson for CrossReach has confirmed to Shetland News this week that after implementing improvements the three weak ratings no longer stand – and they have all moved up a level, to ‘adequate’.
They said that following a meeting on 26 February “the large-scale investigation and moratorium [on new admissions] were removed”.
“We have since had two follow-up inspections from the Care Inspectorate where it was confirmed that the service had met all requirements and areas of improvement with no further issues raised,” the spokesperson continued.
“As a result, the grades have now been revised to level three [out of six] in all areas.”
At present the service has nine residents and CrossReach, which is part of the Church of Scotland, is working with local authority representatives to plan new admissions to the service.
Fire doors not working, a lack of access to drinking water and a serious staffing shortfall were among the issues found at the care centre by inspectors on an unannounced visit late last year.
Speaking in early January a spokesperson for CrossReach said in response to the report that the “safety of those within our care is our primary concern” – adding that “steps have already been taken to address all of the issues noted and we are working hard to make the necessary changes”.
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