Staff shortages impacting care at South Uist home

Concerns over the impact of staff shortages on the care provided to elderly residents in a South Uist care home, have surfaced in a Care Inspectrate report.

The report on services at Taigh a’Chridhe Uile Naomh Care Home in Daliburgh found that all residents and their families who responded to the Inspectorate’s questionnaire ‘strongly agreed’ that they were happy with the quality of support being given.

But, the report notes, ‘relatives told us that they were happy with the care their family members received but at times they felt the service was short-staffed. We saw that support was task focused to ensure that people’s essential needs were met but staff had very little time to have quality interactions with people or to provide activities.’

The report also highlighted areas for improvement in the home’s care, which will be monitored in future inspections, including in the provision of social activities, with families raising concerns that the amount of social activity had declined in recent years, and ‘they were concerned that their relatives and other residents were bored and needed more stimulation.’

The report also called for a system of comprehensive care plans to be introduced within 28 days of a new resident entering the home.

The inspection concluded that the services provided were either adequate or good at the home in the categories assessed.