Dun Berisay Care Inspection, October 2022

A recent inspection carried out by the Care Inspection at Dun Berisay Care Home highlighted several positive areas around the quality of care offered to residents, in particular the good relationships between residents and staff and the warm, relaxed way staff conducted themselves.  Residents were supported to maintain contact with their relatives and friends and visiting was well supported. The service had well established relationships with key agencies such as NHS.

Whilst the dated environment was evaluated as adequate due to age of the premises and lack of ensuite facilities, the infection prevention and control measures were observed to be good with staff competent in procedures and vigilant of COVID 19 symptoms.

Quality of leadership and staff was evaluated as good with quality assurance, service improvement plans and good communication in place.  The report highlighted the need for staff training and supervisions to be maintained to ensure staff skills and knowledge were up to date and appropriate.

The report highlighted the need for activities to be offered to residents and acknowledged the development in this area with the recent recruitment of an Activity Facilitator.

There is a requirement on the service to improve assessments and quality of recording contained within care plans, particularly for people who experience stress and distress as well as maintaining charts and ensuring reviews take place at least every 6 months.  The Care Inspectorate expect this to be in place by January 2023.  Several areas of improvements from the inspection carried out in 2019 remain in place due to lack of sufficient progress on evidencing and recording practice.

A spokesperson for the Comhairle stated:  ‘ the inspection at Dun Berisay provided us with positive feedback on the core elements of care provision, in particular the important relationships between residents and staff and supporting residents to maintain their connections with family and friends.  COVID has brought us many challenges, particularly in a dated environment, however it is pleasing that the hard work and dedication of staff who ensure the care home is kept clean and that IPC measures are in place has been recognized within the report.  We are aware of the areas that need particular attention, we have introduced a new care plan format which staff are familiarizing themselves with and we are supporting management and staff to address the requirement and areas of improvements. ‘