A CARE home in Largs has been ordered to make a string of urgent improvements by the Care Inspectorate.

A recent visit by watchdogs to Hutton Park Care Home in Greenock Road saw the care home receive 'weak' ratings for their care and support, staffing competencies and leadership.

The care home have apologised for the 'concern and distress' sparked by the results - and insist they are now working closely with the Care Inspectorate and other agencies to raise standards.

They have vowed to take action after failing to meet the terms of an improvement notice issued earlier this year.

The watchdog has warned the home could face severe consequences if their expectations are not met.

A spokesman for Hutton Park said: "We apologise for the concern and distress this may have caused, and the business has begun to take action to return the home to a place where everyone can feel safe, relaxed and receive the care and support they deserve. Our staff team are committed to providing the best quality of care to everyone living in Hutton Park care home.

"We have developed a robust action plan to show how we intend to improve the service generally and improve the outcomes for each individual living here.

"We have recently recruited a new manager for the service and strongly feel that this will be a positive appointment.

"We are working closely with the Care Inspectorate and our partners from health and social work in the area and are grateful for all the assistance we are receiving."

A spokesperson for the Care Inspectorate said: "The Care Inspectorate visited this care home earlier this year and issued an improvement notice on May 7 which outlined areas of care which needed to improve.

"We have since returned to the service to inspect them further and check on progress.

"We have now extended the date by which the care home must demonstrate improvement.

"We will publish a full inspection report in due course and will also continue to monitor this service to ensure residents' needs are being met and their rights and choices respected.

"If we are not satisfied that sufficient progress is made towards improvement, we will not hesitate to take further action.

"Anyone with a concern can contact us on 0345 600 9527."

The Care Inspectorate use a six point grading scale, which works in this way: Grade 6 – Excellent, Grade 5 – Very good, Grade 4 – Good, Grade 3 – Adequate, Grade 2 – Weak, Grade 1 – Unsatisfactory

The ratings for care and support, staffing and leadership were 4/6 in 2018, and 5/6 in 2017 and received consistently high ratings preceding that under the previous management.

The Care Inspectorate examine the quality of care and support: how well the service meets the needs of each person who uses it; the quality of environment: where the service is delivered: for example, how clean, well maintained and accessible it is, the atmosphere of the service, how welcoming it is quality of staffing: the quality of the staff, including their qualifications and training

The National Care Standards are produced by Scottish Government and they set out the standards of care people should expect.