Boss quit death probe care home after last inspection

THE last inspection of a city care home at the centre of a police investigation was so poor its manager “resigned with immediate effect”, it was reported today.

All residents at Elsie Inglis Nursing Home in Abbeyhill have been re-housed since detectives started investigating the death of 59-year-old Lynn Beveridge.

The company that owns the 70-bed facility reportedly said it had brought in a new management team after watchdogs carried out an unannounced inspection in April.

The inspection, the official findings of which have still to be published, had given Elsie Inglis some of the lowest possible grades.

Regulator Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (SCSWIS) has given the nuring home until Friday to make improvements or lose its licence.

A spokesman for the home’s owners, Peacock Medicare, said: “Following the inspection by SCSWIS in April, the manager of the Elsie Inglis Nursing Home resigned with immediate effect.

“A new manager was brought in from another home within the Peacock care company to assist in resolving any issues which SCSWIS have with staffing and the level of care at the home.”

Previously Peacock’s three homes, including Elsie Inglis, have achieved “good” or “very good” inspections.

It is thought that the probe at the home in April came after a number of concerns were raised.

One complaint brought to the attention of SCSWIS reportedly concerned the treatment of 82-year-old resident Ann Moncur, co-incidentally a former neighbour of Ms Beveridge.

Mrs Moncur was taken to hospital from Elsie Inglis after her daughter spotted her condition.

It was reported today that the mother-of-three, who suffered from dementia, was discovered semi-conscious in a day room in October and rushed to the Capital’s Western General.

The grandmother was found to have bleeding bowels and pneumonia, and was immediately put on life support, her family said.

Ms Beveridge became ill last Monday and died two days later in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, sparking a police investigation into conditions at the private nursing home, which has been taken over by NHS Lothian and Edinburgh City Council.

Residents, including Mrs Moncur who returned to the centre after her hospital treatment, have now been evacuated.

Mrs Moncur’s daughter, Anne Rendall from Gordon in Roxburghshire, reportedly said: “When we read about the other resident who died we thought, ‘that could have been mum’.”

Mrs Rendall is one of a number of relatives of residents who have described their loved ones’ treatment to SCSWIS.

The body has now issued a compulsory improvement notice to Elsie Inglis amid what it called “serious concerns about the quality of care” at the home.

Mrs Moncur’s family said they were happier with her care after she returned from hospital.

SCSWIS has spoken of its concerns over the home and warned it faces permanent closure unless it can make improvements by Friday.

Nobody was available for comment at the home or at the Livingston headquarters of its owners Peacock Medicare.