City housing service told to improve its standards

A DUNDEE housing support service has been told to improve its standards by an industry regulator.

Blackwood Care, based in the city’s Craigmount Road, provides a combined housing support and careat-home service.

A Care Inspectorate report looked at the service’s quality of care and support, its staffing, management and leadership.

But, after being consistently given ratings of “very good” over the past several years, bosses at the watchdog said there had been a “big change” since last year’s inspection.

The service was given Grade 3 or “adequate” ratings in all three categories. The highest rating a service can be given is Grade 6, classed as “excellent”.

In the report, the Care Inspectorate said: “In general, views were positive in relation to staff but less so in relation to the recent management.”

One relative of a service user reported that twice staff failed to appear to support her mother, but added that the situation was resolved. Another two people receiving care reported a similar issue.

The report noted that during the latter part of 2016, some users had experienced problems in contacting the service. Both situations were noted by the Care Inspectorate as being “poor practice”.

Requirements were made that the provider should ensure all service users have an up-to-date personal care plan in their homes.

The service was told it should also ensure that if there are scheduled visits, systems are in place so that if one is missed the service knows about it quickly and can ensure that person is safe.

Regarding staffing, Blackwood Care was told it should re-activate previous practices which support staff, including team meetings, supervision, and observation of staff.

On a management level, the service was told it should “review the procedure and practice for taking on new customers and consider the impact on existing as well as new customers”.

A spokeswoman said Blackwood was “looking forward to the next report from the Care Inspectorate”.

She added: “Blackwood recognises our service was not at the usual standards we are known for due to high levels of change. We have addressed the issues and are back to delivering our customary high quality care service.”