Health and social care bosses are providing support visits to sector

Health and social care bosses have visited almost all Perthshire care homes in the last month to offer additional support.

The visits were revealed when integration joint board (IJB) bosses were questioned about one of a handful of Perthshire care homes which received a poor Care Inspectorate report last month.

Board members were asked if standards were improving when a home in Luncarty was scored as weak for infection control and care and support during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Chief officer Gordon Paterson explained that not only had staff from

Perth and Kinross’s health and social care partnership visited the home in question to provide support, teams had visited almost every home in the region to provide help.

Only two facilities in Perthshire had not been visited by teams from the body.

He said: “I would certainly assure the IJB that we, with partners, are looking very closely at how that care home and others are delivering care at an appropriate standard and addressing any shortcomings.

“These could be either identified through the Care Inspectorate or our own visits.

“We’ve visited 38 out of the 40 care homes in the last month.

“We’re working with the sector. We’re trying to take that improvement focus, we’re trying to be supportive and we’re working with the Care Inspectorate.”

There is an improvement plan in place for the referenced Glenhelenbank home, and care homes which have been on the receiving end of critical reports have been visited weekly.

Partnership officer Carolyn Wilson said: “The visits were done with a supportive nature. They were done by the health and social care partnership.

“When additional support is required, we put in that level of support.”