Inverness care home plagued with problems served with new Improvement Notice

An Inverness care home plagued with problems has again been told to make urgent improvements in the care experienced by vulnerable residents.

The Care Inspectorate has served a new formal Improvement Notice on Fairfield Care Home in the city following an inspection which raised serious concerns.

Inspectors noted that three areas required urgent improvement.

• Management at the home must ensure proper provision is made to meet residents’ physical, social, emotional and psychological needs in a way which respects their wishes and choices.
• They must also ensure the care and support provided to people who live in the home is provided by staff who are competent and have the knowledge and skills to meet residents’ care and support needs.
• And they must ensure residents’ health, safety and wellbeing needs are met in a manner which promotes their dignity.

The latest notice is not the first time the home has fallen foul of inspectors.

A complaint about staffing levels and recruitment procedures was upheld in 2012.

In 2013, a complaint about communication between staff and service users, continence care and general health and welfare was partially upheld.

In 2014, five complaints encompassing 18 different elements of the care service, including health and welfare, continence care, nutrition, missing property, staff training and qualifications, were fully or partially upheld by the Care Inspectorate.

More recently, in 2017, the home was barred from taking in new clients after five residents in their 80s and 90s died at the home within a period of six days. The deaths were thought to be related to flu and flu-related illnesses.

Commenting on the lastest inspection, a spokesperson for the Care Inspectorate said: “The care provided at this care home is not good enough.

“The Improvement Notice we have issued clearly lays out the improvements we must see so that the care experienced by residents improves quickly. We will visit this care home again soon to check on progress and if we are not satisfied that the matters raised are being addressed urgently we will not hesitate to take further action.”

The improvement notice is available here: http://bit.ly/fairfieldimprovementnotice