Glasgow care home continues to give inspectors cause for concern

A care home for older people in Glasgow has been told it must swiftly improve the care it provides to residents.

It comes after inspectors from the Care Inspectorate graded the quality of care and support provided at the Sherbrooke Lodge Care Home as ‘weak’ for the second inspection in a row. This is the second lowest quality grade possible.

The home, which is run by Lambhill Court Ltd, had been graded as “very good” in all areas in September 2010 but was the subject of an unannouned inspection in February 2014 after which it was required to make 24 improvements.

Following the latest ‘high-intensity’ inspection, inspectors said the number of staff in the care home needs to be better matched to the spread out nature of the service and the specific needs of residents. Staff also need to be more knowledgeable about the care of people with dementia.

However, they also noted that a new manager has started to bring improved leadership to the home.

In their report, inspectors noted: “Although staff were observed to try hard to resolve stress and distress of residents, we observed situations that could have been handled better.

“The management of meals seemed to depend on which staff were on duty and so this was inconsistent. We observed a lunchtime meal that where it appeared some staff were unclear about what they were doing. This resulted in meals being served more slowly and a resident with chewing difficulty being given hard to chew foods.”

A spokesperson for the Care Inspectorate said: “Sherbrooke Lodge continues to cause some concern and the service provider needs to make improvements swiftly.

“We will continue to work closely with this care home to support improvement but unless we see evidence of swift and sustained improvement we will not hesitate to take further action.

Lambhill Court Ltd operates several other care homes in Glasgow. These include Oakbridge and Cumbrae House in the city’s West End, Florence House in Govan, Lambhill Court in Kinning Park.

The full inspection report is available here: http://cinsp.in/1Q7VieY