North Lanarkshire Council binned failing Ravens Court

NORTH Lanarkshire Council have admitted that they stopped using the under-fire Ravens Court Care Home after becoming concerned with the home’s quality of care for the elderly.

In what a council spokesperson admitted to being a rare move, heads at their social work department chose not to advise families looking for elderly care to use the Ravens Court centre after the Care Commission inspection report graded the home as unsatisfactory – the lowest of six possible grades.

For six months from July last year, the council put in place a strict embargo on admissions to Ravens Court, having agreed a voluntary moratorium on placements with owners Southern Cross.

The embargo was lifted in January this year but it was not until the beginning of March that the first council-encouraged admission to the centre took place.

Duncan Mackay, head of social work development for North Lanarkshire Council, explained the situation to the Wishaw Press.

He said: “We raised concerns last year about standards at Ravens Court, partly as a result of the then Care Commission inspection report and partly as a result of our own monitoring.

“Following that, we met with Southern Cross, who agreed a voluntary cessation of admissions to the home.

“That moratorium remained in place for six months and, following a change in senior management at Ravens Court and a significant improvement in a subsequent Care Commission inspection, we agreed to lift the voluntary moratorium.”

The change in senior management referred to by Mr Mackay came after the centre’s previous manager was suspended in June 2010 on the back of the Care Commission’s sub-standard inspection report.

A new manager was put in place four months later.

The home’s former depute manager resigned shortly after the admission embargo was put in place in June 2010.

With the council’s moratorium now complete, the centre is now monitored closely to ensure care standards do not slip.

Mr Mackay said: “Ravens Court remains subject to enhanced monitoring by our quality assurance section, which has involved 14 monitoring visits to the care home between March 2010 and July this year.

“It is important to note that North Lanarkshire Council does not place or refer clients to any care home.

“The council is governed by the Scottish Government’s Directions on Choice, which means that people themselves, or their legal representatives, choose a care home, not the council.

“Where someone chooses a care home and is eligible for public funding to assist with the cost we are responsible for monitoring their welfare.

“Our procedures in this regard are robust and this is why Ravens Court remains subject to enhanced monitoring.”

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THE FAMILIES of two residents cared for at Ravens Court have contacted the Wishaw Press to praise the recently-criticised home.

Alice Prentice said that she is “very happy” with the care the home give her 95-year-old mother.

She said: “My mother has been in for a year and she is really happy. She is well taken care of and all of the staff could not be more helpful.

“You’ll not get a place that is perfect but my family and I go to see my mother every day and we are very happy with the care she is given.

“There used to be a problem with the smell but that is fixed now.”

Another anonymous reader, whose mother passed away in the home, continues to visit the centre and was full of praise for its staff.

She said: “My mother was in for two-and-a-half years and the whole staff were absolutely wonderful.

“Whenever there was a problem, they would contact us right away.”

The family of Ravens Court resident Agnes Hume, featured in last week’s Press, have been pleased with the response to the story of their four-and-a-half year ordeal.

Having been asked numerous times since, Agnes’ daughter, Yvonne Redmond, and grand-daughter, Lindsay Bruce, want to confirm that they kept Agnes in Ravens Court on the advice of the Alzheimer’s Society, who conceded that at that late stage of dementia, it often causes more harm than good to move someone with the illness into new surroundings. For that reason, they opted for Agnes to remain at Ravens Court.