Government probe into city ‘cluster’ Care home could close over report failures
BY VIVIENNE AITKEN A SCOTS care home has been stripped of its registration and could face closure after serious concerns about cleanliness and its lack of ability to cope with the Covid crisis.
The Care Inspectorate issued the notice yesterday after a re-inspection of Ashwood House in Callander, Stirlingshire.
It warned: “Due to the poor standard of cleanliness within the service and the absence of enhanced cleaning protocols, if Covid-19 were to enter the service, it would spread rapidly.”
Officials visited the care home at the beginning of July and identified “serious concerns with the infection prevention and control measures”. Staff told how they had not received Covid-specific training.
And tellingly, inspectors said: “Whilst there has not been an outbreak of Covid-19 in the home, we could not have confidence that staff would have the skills and knowledge to ensure safety of residents should an outbreak occur.”
The home was told to make urgent improvements but when the premises were reinspected, “minimal progress” had been made and there remained significant concerns about the wellbeing of residents.
A spokesman for the Care Inspectorate said: “The Care Inspectorate visited Ashwood House care home in Callander on July 30 to check on progress made after an earlier inspection raised concerns about the quality of care experienced by residents.
“On our latest visit, we found minimal progress on areas that must improve and we continue to have significant concerns about the wellbeing of residents.”
Ashwood House has 14 days to appeal. A spokeswoman said: “We have no comment at this present time.”
NICOLA Sturgeon has announced health bosses are investigating whether a possible cluster of Covid cases has broken out in the Greater Glasgow area.
The First Minister said there were 17 confirmed cases in Scotland’s largest health board yesterday – which covers the city as well as the neighbouring council areas of Renfrewshire and Inverclyde.
Sturgeon added that an increasing proportion of cases
BY CHRIS McCALL across the country appeared to be among the under-40s.
The SNP leader insisted she was “not blaming young people” and said it was understandable people wanted to socialise after lockdown.
Sturgeon said the Scottish Government had not “reached a view” on banning pub crawls but added tightening restrictions on how bars and restaurants run was under “consideration”.