An Angus care home service for the elderly has been told to upgrade its facilities by inspectors.
Bearehill in Castle Street, Brechin, was given an unannounced inspection by Margaret Hughes and Shona Adam of the Care Inspectorate on January 12 and the body has published its findings.
The quality of environment was graded as “weak” and staffing was graded as being “adequate”.
Ms Hughes states: “We observed most staff to be kind and caring, engaging well with service users.
“The care home environment requires immediate remedial work to be undertaken to enable service users to have their personal care needs met.”
Heating, bathroom arrangements and window repairs were highlighted as areas of weakness, and recommendations made to resolve these issues.
Of the seven communal bathrooms in the home, only one was fully operational.
Despite the bathroom/shower facilities not being at a standard that we would expect, service users’ personal hygiene needs were still being met. Service users were “generally happy with the service”.
Bearehill is a care home which provides care for older people who need either nursing or residential care.
The service is provided by Tamaris (RAM) Limited, a member of the Four Seasons Health Care Group. It has also opened a wing for respite care for up to eight people with learning disabilities.
The Care Inspectorate regulates care services in Scotland.
A spokeswoman for Four Seasons said the group “regret” that some aspects of the environment at Bearehill Care Home fell below their expected standards.
She added: “Our priority is to ensure the wellbeing of residents and an improvement plan was immediately put in place following the inspection on January 14.
“As a result, most of the areas within the home now have appropriate and operational bathing facilities in place and the remaining maintenance projects will shortly be completed too.
“During the inspection, the Care Inspectorate acknowledged that the home appeared clean and inviting and that staff engaged with residents.
“The residents themselves told inspectors that staff were kind and caring, too.”