Another Dundee nursing home has placed a ban on new patients. Confirmation of the block on intake at Ballumbie Court Care Home, comes after The Courier revealed Linlathen Neurodisability Centre on Arbroath Road had suspended admissions following a threat of closure due to its failure to improve standards.
It is understood Ballumbie Court is addressing a critical draft inspection report from the nursing homes regulator that rates part of the service on offer as “unsatisfactory.”
The report was issued following an inspection at the end of last month.
A number of complaints against the home have been investigated in recent years, most recently last August when a complaint about giving residents their prescription medication was upheld.
An inspection report published last year acknowledged “a period of unsettlement” at the home. The manager of the home changed at least three times last year.
A spokesman for the Care Commission confirmed a draft report had been issued to the care home owner, Southern Cross Healthcare, following an inspection at the end of last month.
He confirmed the home was given advance warning of the inspection, but declined to offer any details of the findings or the draft report.
The home operator is given an opportunity to challenge the content of the draft report, prior to publication.UnrelatedA spokesman for Southern Cross said the ban on new admissions was taken ahead of the inspectors arriving at the home and was unrelated. He said it was a voluntary action and not a requirement by the Care Commission.
Last year four employees at the home were suspended and the establishment has been criticised in previous Care Commission reports.
A new manager was sent in a few months ago and the spokesman claimed the voluntary embargo on admissions was put in place a few weeks ago to give her a chance to “settle in.”
He was unable to say exactly when the new manager arrived or exactly when the embargo was put in place.
Elizabeth Roscoe, head of service quality at Southern Cross Healthcare, said, “Southern Cross management has placed a voluntary embargo on admissions at Ballumbie Court to give the new home manager sufficient time to settle in and implement the home’s action plan.
“The health and well-being of our residents is our number one priority and we will continue to work closely with the local authority and Care Commission to improve the standard of care at Ballumbie Court.”
Last year staff at the home complained to Care Commission inspectors that “staff morale was quite low.”
Inspectors found that employees were “disheartened by the amount of changes in the home in respect of staffing and management.”