Care home could close unless 'significant improvement' occurs

A care home in North Ayrshire could be forced to close unless it drastically improves by the end of November.

Shalom Nursing Home in Irvine has been issued with an improvement notice by the Care Inspectorate watchdog, which said there were significant concerns over the quality of care at the home.

A report in August rated the care home, which looks after up to 46 people, as being weak in wellbeing support, leadership and care planning.

The Care Inspectorate stated in a letter to owner ZAAM CARE (Irvine) Limited that unless "there is a significant improvement in provision of the service" then it would look to cancel the owners' registration of the care home.

A spokesperson for the Care Inspectorate said: "We understand this is a difficult and distressing time for residents, their families and staff at the service.

"However, our first priority is always the health and wellbeing of people.

"Because of our concerns, we have issued an improvement notice.

"This sets out the significant improvements that must be made within a specified timeframe.

"We are in contact with and monitoring the service to follow up on the required improvements."

The improvements need to be implemented by two dates in November.

By 10 November, people using the service must be protected from the risk of infection and the environment must be clean, safe and hygienic.

This means keeping the likes of bathrooms and bedrooms consistently clean.

The care home must also promote the health, welfare and safety of people and protect them from harm - meaning it needs to recognise any notifiable events at the care home, take appropriate action and report it to authorities like the Care Inspectorate.

By 24 November, Shalom staff must ensure that care and support practices consistently promote service users' health, safety and wellbeing.

To do this, information obtained through clinical monitoring systems must be accurate, service users' health needs must be correctly identified and managed and there needs to be effective oversight of medication management.

They must also take steps so that nutrition and hydration support is delivered safely, while using assessment and monitoring tools correctly also needs to be improved.

By the same date, leadership and management oversight must improve, by being effective in identifying risks while driving safe, dignified care and positive outcomes for people using the service.

The August report into the home found issues including changes in people's health not always being recognised, weaknesses in medication management and problems with the meals on offer.

The care home has been contacted for comment.