Standard of care provision at Ayr nursing home "compromised" by "significant weaknesses"

An Ayr care home has been told to make improvements to its standards of care after being subject to an unannounced inspection.

Cumnor Hall Care Home, on Ayr’s Racecourse View, was graded ‘weak’ across five quality indicators - the second lowest gradings possible.

The gradings come from the Care Inspectorate who made an unannounced inspection at the care home in May - with the findings now made public. Among the key messages recording and monitoring information “required to be improved across the service.”

And quality assurance systems also required to be improved to “drive service improvements and developments.”

Staffing was an issue too; the Care Inspectorate saying that bosses need to recruit and deploy “more” to ensure that the needs of residents are met to a “higher standard.”

Cumnor Hall is registered to provide a care home service to a maximum of 31 older people living with dementia. The provider is the Church of Scotland, trading as Crossreach.

An extract from the Care Inspectorate report said that, while they identified “some strengths” in care provision, these were “compromised by significant weaknesses.”

The report goes on: “To ensure that people’s health and wellbeing is being monitored well, the recording of information in relation to residents’ weight must be improved. We found inconsistencies in how this was recorded and audited.

“We looked at an overview of weights and nutritional risk assessments, we were concerned that several people had lost weight over that period. We could not determine that the service had used the information in the overview to inform care or reduce the risk of weight loss.

“And the lack of effective assessment and monitoring of risk could not ensure that the correct decisions were being taken to minimise nutritional risks and support peoples health. This does not safeguard people from harm.”

Mealtime staffing arrangements were also flagged, with the report saying: “We spent time observing mealtimes, we saw that more staff were required during these key times. Improved planning and deployment of staff who were knowledgeable with people’s dietary needs was required.”

In the quality indicators relating to setting, planned care and support, staff team, leadership and supporting people’s wellbeing, the home was graded ‘weak’ across the board.

The Care Inspectorate said the process of recording what people eat and drink “must be appropriately monitored,” too.

The report adds: “Whilst we identified some strengths, these were compromised by significant weaknesses.”

Among the plus points, staff cared for people with “kindness and compassion” and family members felt “involved, well informed and they were happy with the care and support provided.”

Cumnor Hall did not respond to our request for comment.

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