Peebles Nursing Home where “television was the only activity” has improved, new inspection finds

A Borders care home where “television was the only activity” has improved many aspects of its service provision, a new report reveals.

There was “little or no engagement” with residents at Peebles Nursing Home, two representatives of the Care Inspectorate concluded after an unannounced visit to the home at Tweed Green on July 27.

The home provides care services to 31 older adults.

Whilst staff were found to be kind and respectful to residents there was a lack of “meaningful engagement” and a lack of leadership which “directly impacted on the quality of care”.

The report rated the nursing home ‘weak’ in three areas – supporting well-being, leadership and the staff team and ‘adequate’ for how well care and support is planned.

A series of improvements were subsequently required to be fully implemented by September of this year.

The home’s care provider, Edinburgh-based Mansfield Care Limited, apologised for the findings and pledged to implement the improvements, a spokesperson saying: “We are deeply disappointed by these findings, and we take full responsibility for making the necessary improvements.”

And when an inspector with the Care Inspectorate paid a return visit on October 9 significant improvements were found to have been introduced – although further work needs to be carried out.

Improvements noted included better staff communication and more consistent care.

Mealtime experiences for people were improved with a staff member allocated to oversee the dinning room for breakfast.

The report adds: “The management overview of the service including allocation of staff and quality of care was significantly better, and this led to better outcomes for the people supported.”

However, the inspection found that further improvements were required in records of care which were “often inconsistently recorded”.

The report adds: There were a number of staff vacancies in the home, this led to high agency use at times. A more stable staff team would further enhance the quality of care.”

The deadline for further improvements to records of care and staffing has been extended to December 22.