Crossgates: Inspectors say 'safety was compromised' at Alexander House care home

At Alexander House they found "heavily stained" cushions and a mattress, insufficient infection control, poorly trained staff and people being spoken to in an "unacceptable" manner.

After a number of complaints about the home, seven of which were upheld, the Care Inspectorate made an unannounced visit and gave the owners two days to make improvements after highlighting "serious concerns about cleanliness".

The inspectors said: "We concluded that people's welfare and safety was compromised by risks which could be avoided, and that immediate action was required."

Alexander House was one of 12 care homes that were recently bought from Kingdom Homes by the Holmes Care Group in a £40 million deal.

It shares grounds with Craigie House, also part of the purchase, which had a Covid outbreak in December 2020 where six residents sadly died.

Alexander House can provide long-term care for up to 44 people and there were 32 residents at the time of the unannounced visit on January 25.

In each of the quality indicators inspectors looked at, they rated the home's performance as 'weak', said assessments and care plans were "disjointed and out of date" and overall "found significant areas for improvement".

Within the sitting rooms and bedrooms they found a "heavily stained" mattress, several cushions which were "heavily stained and contaminated" and a "dirty wheelchair" that was not fit for purpose.

They added: "When we spoke with staff they indicated they did not know to unzip the protective cover and check the mattress."

There were plus points, including good hand hygiene from staff, plentiful supplies of PPE and cleaning equipment, and visitors to the home being tested in line with government guidelines.

The inspectors said: "We saw many kind and caring interactions between staff and people living in the home and it was evident that staff cared.

"However, we also heard on occasion, people being spoken to / at in an undignified manner.

"This is unacceptable and it was evident that there were clear training needs."

They added: "Because of the concerns highlighted above, we issued a serious concerns letter setting out improvements the provider and manager had to make in relation to the cleaning or replacing equipment, giving them 48 hours to address this."

The letter to Holmes Care Group said: "People experiencing care were not appropriately protected because there were not sufficient infection prevention and control practices."

It added that "due to the severity of the concern" they must take action immediately to "ensure that people experience care in an environment that is safe, well maintained and minimises the risk of infection".

Another unannounced visit took place on January 28 and inspectors reported "significant improvements".

And the company will have to ensure their house is in order when inspectors return for a follow-up visit at the end of this month.

A spokesperson for Holmes Care said: "The health, wellbeing and safety of our residents are our top priorities, so the Care Inspectorate’s report is a matter of deep concern for us.

"We took over the running of the home in December 2021 and have already begun rolling out a number of improvements across the home.

“As soon as we were made aware of the content of the Care Inspectorate’s report, we immediately implemented an improvement plan which includes enhancing the cleaning rota to make sure the environment is safe and well maintained and providing refresher training for all staff members on infection prevention and control, managing care plans and COVID-19 procedures to keep them and the people they support safe.

“We have worked closely with Care Inspectorate Scotland throughout this process to embed and sustain the improvements we make in the home.

"We are determined to make the changes our residents deserve and rightly expect, and are confident that by the time of their next inspection they will notice the improvements we are continuing to make in the home.”