Residents being decanted from Isleshavn care home due to staffing issues
RESIDENTS from the Isleshavn care home are set to be “temporarily” transferred to other care settings due to staffing issues in Yell.
Shetland Islands Council said there were “well-known and longstanding issues around recruitment of staff to the care service, and specifically at Isleshavn, with an increasing dependence on the use of agency staff.”
It said discussions were ongoing with staff and the families of residents to ensure the decant is “as smooth as possible”.
The Care Inspectorate, which gave Isleshavn a “weak” inspection rating in June, has also been briefed.
Integration joint board chairman John Fraser said the residents of Isleshavn are the council’s “paramount concern”.
“Our staff are working hard to maintain and support them as they’re being transferred to their temporary care settings,” he said.
“Recruitment in this service area has been an issue now for some time, and we’ve been monitoring the situation at Isleshavn to ensure our standards of care are maintained.
“We have business continuity plans in place to cover such situations, and these are now in place. Our task now is to work at mitigating these impacts, so that the situation can return to normal as soon as possible.”
It comes after the Mid Yell care home was given a “weak” rating by inspectors from Care Inspectorate Scotland last month, with concerns raised about the leadership and staff team.
Inspectors said they had identified issues with the staffing culture at the service during the surprise visit between 3 and 10 June 2026.
Some staff “did not like to work with others”, they found, with several staff raising concerns about the culture at the care home.
Inspectors said they themselves witnessed behaviour that supported these claims, and added that these could “negatively impact both team cohesion and the lived experience of residents”.
Staff members also “reported feeling overworked and fatigued and that they had limited opportunities for rest days”.
“This raised concerns about staff wellbeing and the sustainability of current working arrangements,” Care Inspectorate Scotland found.
“Staff stress levels had an impact on the atmosphere within the home and prevented people from experiencing a calm and relaxed atmosphere.
“Staff members seemed committed to providing good care to people, but concerns were raised from staff about how well they were able to work together as a team.
“There were gaps in the leadership structure with vacancies, including for senior posts, this meant that there was not sufficient staff time available to focus on non-direct care tasks.”
Inspectors found there was a vacancy for a senior staff member, which was having a negative impact on the capacity of existing staff to carry out the work.
“In addition, staff availability meant that seniors were often having to cover shifts and this further impacted the capacity they had to focus on some parts of their role.”
Residents at the home found there was a “lack of interaction” with staff and that they were “bored and isolated” as a result of the lack of staff.
“During the inspection we observed limited activity provision,” inspectors said.
“One person told us there is ‘nothing going on here’.”
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