‘Serious concerns’ raised at East Lothian care home

An East Lothian care home has been told to make urgent changes after “serious concerns” were raised at an inspection.

The Care Inspectorate has served a formal “improvement notice” on Tyneholm Stables Care Home in Pencaitland after an unannounced inspection.

The notice lists 12 areas of concern the home must take action to improve.

It raised serious concerns over nutrition, the management of medication, infection control and staffing.

Inspectors found some residents at the home went for “considerably longer” than a week without a bath or shower.

Frequent omissions in recording medication were also noted and patients and their relatives were given little say in their care.

With a high number of agency staff used, care plans were not being updated and residents were not always being given special diets where needed.

A spokesman for the Care Inspectorate said: “An unannounced inspection of this service raised serious concerns.

“The 12 areas of concern were care planning; nutrition; fluid intake; medication management; skin care; health and safety; infection control; the environment; equipment; staffing; quality assurance; and training.

“Everyone in Scotland has the right to safe, compassionate care which meets their needs and respects their rights. Where we have concerns we do not hesitate to take action.

“Our first priority is always the safety and well-being of residents and this improvement notice sets out what we expect the service to do to ensure that the care provided to residents improves.

“We will be inspecting this service again soon to ensure that progress is being made.”

The care home, run by European Care Group, is home to 47 elderly patients.