Inspectors order improvements at South Lanarkshire home

A care home for older people has been told it must make improvements after an unannounced inspection by the social care regulator.

Inspectors graded Nethanvale Care Home in Lesmahagow, South Lanarkshire, “weak” for the quality of care and support provided to residents.

The Care Inspectorate report findings also covered the Lower Johnshill building at the site. The two care home buildings are run by Methodist Homes (MHA).

Further attention was required to personal plans, particularly regarding nutrition and wound management, inspectors found.

But the report also revealed residents and relatives spoken to said they were “very happy” with the care and support provided by staff.

Inspectors said March’s visit was the second consecutive inspection which found the quality of care and support provided to be weak – the second lowest possible grade.

A Care Inspectorate spokesman said: “We continue to have concerns about the quality of care provided to residents, and we are working with the service to ensure that they improve quickly.

“We recognise the service provides residents with a safe, secure and supportive environment in which to live. However, residents’ personal plans need to fully reflect individual health needs and the service needs to demonstrate how these are being addressed.

“Management also need to ensure that where an issue has been identified that appropriate action is taken to address this and develop appropriate systems that allow them to monitor this.

“Particular attention needs to be paid to nutrition and wound management. The service also needs to be able to demonstrate that it is appropriately staffed to meet the needs of those living in the service.”

He added: “If we do not see significant evidence of improvement we will not hesitate to take further action to ensure that residents receive the standard of care which we expect.”

A spokeswoman for MHA said: “Residents’ well-being is our top priority at all times. We do therefore take this report extremely seriously.

“We are working closely with the Care Inspectorate and have a full action plan in place. We are confident that all requirements will be met by the end of June to bring Nethanvale in line with the high standards usually associated with MHA.”