Staff praised as Brae care centre receives favourable report
A BRAE care centre has received a favourable report following a surprise three-day inspection last year.
North Haven’s staff team and setting were rated as “good” by Care Inspectorate Scotland’s inspectors after they visited in November 2024.
Their leadership, planning of care and support and support of people’s wellbeing were all rated as “adequate”.
Inspectors found service users were “supported with kindness and compassion by staff who knew them well”.
And they said that staff worked hard together to ensure the needs of the care home’s then 10 residents were being met.
However inspectors said the care centre’s medication systems needed to improve, and that the oversight of staff training “was not sufficient”.
Improvements were also required to ensure residents were supported safely with their nutritional needs, Care Inspectorate Scotland found.
Special praise was reserved for North Haven’s staff, with inspectors speaking to service users as well as their relatives.
“People were supported with kindness and compassion, which was clear in our discussions with people who lived in the service and their families and friends,” they said.
“Families made comments such as ‘my relative couldn’t be looked after better’ and ‘staff are very kind and attentive’.
“We observed staff engaging warmly with people, their relatives and friends.”
Inspectors wrote that they routinely observed staff dealing with people “in a genuine, kind and caring manner”.
As well as a “good level of fire safety”, inspectors said North Haven was “clean and maintained to a good standard”.
“Visitors to the service told us ‘the place is spotless’ and ‘it’s always clean and tidy and cleaning staff are visible’,” they said.
“People’s bedrooms were in a good state of repair and the décor was personalised to ensure these were individual to people.
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“One person told us how they were a solitary person and enjoyed the views from their bedroom window and reading, which provided them with a feeling of contentment.”
However, they said there was “limited evidence of the service encouraging people to consider alternative options to spending prolonged periods in their rooms”.
“Some families told us they felt their relative was bored and lonely,” they added.
Care Inspectorate Scotland asked the Brae care centre to ensure people were kept “active, stimulated and engaged as far as possible”.
And they found that information was not being shared regularly with kitchen staff to ensure people’s nutritional needs were being met.
Inspectors asked North Haven to make the improvements before its next visit.
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