Inverness care service for adults with mental health support needs ordered to improve
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A service caring for adults with mental health support needs in Inverness has been given several areas in which to make improvements by inspectors.
Birchwood Highland Recovery Centre, based in Muirfield Lane, Inverness, provides care for up to 23 adults and received an unannounced visit from the Care Inspectorate on September 13.
In its report based on that inspection the service was rated as either adequate or weak across five areas inspected.
In terms of how staff support people's wellbeing (rated adequate, where strengths "only just" outweigh weaknesses) inspectors said: "People experienced warmth, kindness, and compassion in how they were supported and cared for.
"Throughout the inspection we saw that staff treated people with dignity and respect and saw consistently positive relationships between staff and people.
"It was positive that 'shadow shifts' were used to introduce a new staff member to people, to get to know them and their preferred routines.
"New staff were also allocated to people with care and sensitivity and encouraged to focus on maximising people's independence."
They added: "Some people had opportunities to lead active and independent lives and were supported by staff in making choices and decisions about their weekly activities.
"However, the service also supported people with complex needs, some of who struggled to engage with the aims of the service to promote independent living skills.
"This created significant challenges for staff in ensuring they were meeting the outcomes of all people supported by the service."
Inspectors also raised concerns about CCTV operating in shared spaces, saying it was not clear operators had legal authority for its use.
They also noted "staffing pressures".
By the end of this month inspectors want to see the service ensure sufficient staff are available to support service users and, in terms of CCTV, they must, at a minimum, ensure they have necessary legal authority to use it and that staff are trained in its use.
Leadership was rated as weak.
Inspectors said: "The recently appointed manager and other senior staff were visible and approachable within the service and consistently available to support staff where required."
However they added: "There was no evidence of a service development and improvement plan with details of quality assurance."
By November 30 the service must ensure such a plan is in place with regular audits and clear action plans for improvements where needed.
The staff team was rated adequate as inspectors noted they had positive relationships with those they supported.
Staff also reported that management was improving: "The new manager was said to be responsive to staff and they felt more supported and felt listened to."
However inspectors said the service did not have a recognisable service training plan to help manage and evaluate training and provide robust oversight, helping deliver continuous improvement.
This was made another area for improvement.
The setting of the service itself was rated weak with standards of cleanliness in some areas "contrary to infection prevention and control guidance".
Recording of cleaning was inconsistent and the premises overall, inspectors said, looked "tired and in need of redecoration and refurbishment in many areas."
Other areas, including the garden and TV lounge, it was felt, could be better utilised.
Planning for care and support was also rated weak with information in personal plans not well organised and not fully reflecting "people's rights, choices and wishes or the supports needed to achieve this."
Inspectors said: "Personal plans appeared static with little evidence of what progress or skill development was achieved with people.
"We saw an example of someone planning to move into more independent accommodation where there was a lack of information concerning significant independent living skills.
"We found no information about this person's capacity to manage a tenancy or details of what support she would need to successfully move into her own accommodation.
"The service needs to urgently review its current approaches to support planning, and this will be a requirement."
