Inspectors have regraded standards of care at a nursing home in Auchterarder after a review found staff had decreased the risk of residents catching COVID-19 since their last visit.
The Care Inspectorate previously marked standards at Balhousie Ruthven Towers as “weak” over concerns noted by assessors about its cleanliness following an inspection carried out towards the end of last year.
Now the government agency has opted to regrade standards at the home as “adequate” after inspectors paid a follow-up visit this month and found it to be “visibly clean in all areas including en-suite bathrooms, bedrooms, communal areas and clinical treatment rooms”.
Their latest report on Balhousie Ruthven Towers said: “The manager undertook a daily walkaround of the home to ensure standards were maintained in relation to the care of residents, social activities, general cleanliness as well as infection prevention and control.
“This included personal protective equipment (PPE) stock levels and clinical waste management.
“We found mattresses to be clean and in a good state of repair. This meant that people living in the service could be assured that the environment was clean and that they were protected from the risk of infection.”
However assessors determined a separate recommendation made after their last visit that staff provide residents a better range of meaningful activities to engage in both within and outwith the home had not been met.
They said in their report: “We found that the provider had started to work on improvements such as introducing ‘ten magic moments’ which saw all staff spending dedicated time with residents.
“The wellbeing co-ordinator was enthusiastic and spoke of activities planned for the coming months.
“However, we saw some people were sitting in their rooms with little interaction from staff.
“We could not be confident that people were being encouraged to maintain or develop their interests, activities or what matters to them in a way they preferred.
“This area for improvement has not been met and will be followed up at the next inspection.”
