Inquiry after five deaths at Inverness care home
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ADMISSIONS have been suspended at a care home for the elderly following the deaths of five residents in six days.
Fairfield Care Home is under investigation by the Care Inspectorate and NHS Highland, and police and social workers have been on site, but no firm details have been revealed about the nature and seriousness of the concerns.
Four women in their 90s and one woman in her 80s died at the Inverness facility in the last week of January.
A source at Highland Council, who did not want to be named, said that the deaths were caused by flu and winter ailments but there was a question mark over the way “things had been recorded” at the 35-bed facility.
A next of kin to one of the residents called for the place to be closed down.
And the Care Inspectorate is looking into “a separate concern”.
The care home owner Taj Manda, who has been in the industry for more than 30 years and also runs the 62-bed Mandaville Care Home at Culduthel, refused to comment.
A spokeswoman from NHS Highland said: “We have been made aware of potential issues around the standard of care at Fairfield Care Home. As a result we have suspended admissions to the home while we work with them to ensure care and support is in place at a standard we would expect. All families and next of kin have been informed of what is happening.”
A spokesman for the Care Inspectorate, the official body responsible for inspecting standards of care in Scotland, said: “We have recently been notified of the deaths of four residents at Fairfield Care Home and our thoughts are with those affected at this difficult time.
“A separate concern has been raised with us about this care home which we are considering carefully. If we uphold a complaint the outcome will be published in due course. We continue to work with Fairfield Care Home and with NHS Highland to ensure residents’ needs are met and their rights respected.”
Next of kin to 96-year-old Allena Fraser, who died on January 22, said her death was recorded as influenza.
The woman, who did not wish to have her name in the newspaper, said: “The place should be closed down. I wasn’t happy with the way that she was treated. They just put the food down in front of her and walked away, they didn’t try to encourage her to eat it so she hardly ever ate anything unless I was in and I’d coax her and then she’d eat a wee bitty.
“And she was always poorly dressed, even in cold weather. The last time I saw Allena was on the Tuesday, and she died on the Sunday. She had on a thin jumper and a think skirt and no vest and no bra and no cardi. We complained to the staff and they put a blanket over her and a cardi on her. Once she’d warmed up she was a different person.
“When we went in she was just sitting there so miserable because she was cold. She was in a room upstairs and they only checked on her once every two hours, that wasn’t enough. But I will say one thing, once you complained they saw to it right away, but that’s not the point. You shouldn’t have to complain in the first place.”
Dr Ian McNamara of the Highland Senior Citizens’ Network said it was concerning to hear about the probe.
He said: “We are assured that NHS Highland has taken the steps that it has and know it wouldn’t have done so without good reason.”
Following an unannounced visit by care inspectors in May 2016, the quality of care and support it provided to residents was graded “adequate”.
However, previous inspections in 2015 and 2013 rated the standard of care as “weak” and inspectors have been closely monitoring the home.
They noted in 2013 that 11 out of the home’s 32 residents were at risk of malnutrition. They found fluid intake charts were poorly kept and carers were unclear about how much fluid each person needed to drink to stay healthy and hydrated.
