Residents at weak-rated council care home ‘bored and lonely’

An Edinburgh council-run care home has been rated as ‘weak’ by inspectors, who said residents are “bored and lonely” and staff feel “overwhelmed”.

A watchdog ordered a slew of improvements to be made at Inch View care home in a damning report published on Thursday, July 18.

A recent unannounced inspection of the 60-bed facility in Gilmerton by the Care Inspectorate found there was a “lack of daily activities” for many residents.

Among other problems highlighted were a lack of “accessible snacks and drinks for people to help themselves to” and staff being “overwhelmed with paperwork”.

Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership said it was “disappointed by the findings” and would ensure the necessary recommendations were implemented.

The Care Inspectorate gave Inch View three “weak” ratings, for supporting people’s well-being, leadership, and staff, while the home’s setting was rated ‘good’ and the care and support planning ‘adequate’.

The report said a range of activities and outings were organised, however one to one activity was limited and people described being bored and feeling lonely.

“We observed people walking around corridors, sleeping in the communal areas and spending lengthy times in their bedrooms isolated from others,” it said.

“One relative commented, ‘there’s nothing else to do, people sit and sleep in the dining room’. This meant that people were not getting the most out of life.”

Inspectors said while there were “some” leadership strengths identified, these were “compromised by significant weaknesses”.

The report said: “There was a lack of quality assurances processes in place related to people’s health and well-being and people’s experience of the service. Staff described feeling overwhelmed with paperwork.

“They described not having time to ensure that quality assurances activities were consistently completed.”

It said people in the home felt “confident in giving feedback and raising concerns,” however added they “had stopped doing so as nothing changed”.

Staff generally worked well together, inspectors said, but there were “large numbers” of temporary agency staff being used who “needed a great deal of direction to complete tasks” and some “lacked motivation or competency”.

The report said: “People, relatives and staff all commented that the service was short staffed and was only providing basic care.”

The facility was said to have a “warm and friendly atmosphere when entering the reception area” and cleaning and maintenance were “well managed”.

A spokesperson for the Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership, said: “We take all feedback from the Care Inspectorate seriously and we are disappointed by the findings at Inch View Care Home.

“The home is being supported to implement a detailed plan that will ensure improvements across all areas of weakness identified in the report.

“We are pleased the report highlighted that we provide a positive setting with good facilities and an environment that is clean.”