Keith care home issued letter of serious concern by Care Inspectorate after urine soaked mattress is discovered during inspection
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A MORAY care home's leadership has been described as 'weak' in a Care Inspectorate report following a series of inspections in August.
Inspectors noted that there was a smell of urine in one resident's bedroom at Weston View Care Home in Keith.
They discovered that the bed had been made on a damaged mattress cover while the mattress itself was covered in wet urine.
The home, operated by Craigard Care Limited, was issued a letter of serious concern and inspectors labelled the service provider's leadership as "weak" in their report after visiting the home on August 5, 8 and 11.
"There was a smell of urine in a person's bedroom," the report said.
"We checked the person's bed and found that the bed had been made that morning on a damaged mattress cover and a mattress that was wet with urine.
"Quality assurance is everyone's responsibility and staff should have noticed.
"Inspectors also found that no significant action had been taken to improve quality assurance since their last inspection in May this year."
Concerns over hygiene were also raised in the report with inspectors noting that breakfast was not being "prepared safely".
However, by the end of the inspection, improvements had been made after the upstairs servery was deep cleaned and containers provided with lids.
The care provider had also agreed to make improvements to the servery worktops and cupboards which were found to be damaged at the last inspection, but inspectors found that this had not happened.
"By the end of this inspection new cupboard doors and worktops had arrived and arrangements had been made for these to be fitted," the report said.
"This improvement will make it easier to maintain a high standard of hygiene in the servery, reducing the risk of infection transmission for people who live in Weston View."
The report added: "Incidents which were notifiable events to Care Inspectorate were still not being submitted.
"The manager must ensure that relevant notifications are submitted so that we are aware of, and can assess the service's response to situations when there was potential for people to be harmed."
Inspectors made four requirements for the care provider to meet after their inspection in May.
They found that two of these had not been met within the timescales that had been set.
That included a requirement to improve quality assurance processes and the other was to ensure that support plans are reflective of people's needs, wishes and choices.
They have given the home until October 21 to make the necessary improvements.
Craigard Care Limited have been approached for comment.
