A STRING of failures have been found at a care home in Largs after watchdogs carried out a second surprise visit.

Hutton Park Care Home in Greenock Road was ordered to make a series of improvements after issues were found with their care and support, staffing competencies, safety and leadership.

Care bosses issued a formal improvement notice was issued in May which clearly highlighted the actions required to bring the facility up to scratch, but the follow-up revealed just one of the nine requirements of the notice had been actioned.

A report, which has been seen by the News, revealed further failings including medicines not being administered in line with prescriber's instructions.

It also says: "We were not assured the service was working to support individuals to get the most out of life.

"We observed high levels of inactivity, with individuals spending extended time passively watching or sleeping."

The report added: "We found an inconsistent approach to charging individuals for complementary therapies, such as chiropody, where some paid privately, and others had this cost met by the home's resident fund.

"Individuals who use care services should feel confident that different organisations will work together to protect them from harm, neglect and abuse."

There was also criticism over the analysis of accidents within the home in order to prevent reoccurances.

Hutton Park only received one out of six marks - unsatisfactory - for how care and support is planned.

The inspectors stated: "People who use care services should have in place a support plan which details how their needs, choices, wishes and preferences will be met.

"Of the care plans reviewed we could not be sure that individuals were receiving appropriate care linked to assess needs.

"We found several risk assessments which were incorrectly completed; limiting how well these identified risks and underpinned accurate interventions.

"Where individuals were identified at risk, we did not see referrals being made to the appropriate members of the multi-professional team, such as dieticians.

"There was limited evidence of care plan evaluations taking place.

"Where there is a change to an individual's care and support, they should be confident they will be assessed by the appropriately qualified professional. Where individuals had been reviewed by external professionals, we found no evidence of alteration to intervention set, such as physiotherapist to support the rehabilitation of walking following hip replacement surgery, or GP visit prescribing antibiotics."

In terms of daily recording information, including food and drink fluid intake charts, there was a 'lack of quality and consistency of approach'.

An extended timescale has now been issued by inspectors for the issues to be remedied.

The report said that response requirements in an emergency situation such as a fire had been improved upon, with staff able to provide detailed accounts of their roles and responsibilities should the need arise.

Jackie Weston, director of care at Hutton Park, told the News management were working hard to fix the issues.

She added: "The new management team at Hutton Park are working extremely closely with the Care Inspectorate and all other appropriate stakeholders to address the issues that have been identified.

"We would like to reassure all our residents, staff teams and family members that we are fully committed to doing what is necessary to see a satisfactory resolution to this matter."