AN East Renfrewshire care home has been criticised for its efforts to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. 

The Care Inspectorate, which examines the quality of care in Scotland to ensure it meets high standards, rated Wellmeadow Lodge, in Newton Mearns, as “weak” in three categories – health and wellbeing of residents, infection control and staffing.

Following an inspection, it was found that staff at Wellmeadow Lodge, which is run by Care UK Limited, had not received training specific to Covid-19 and were not always using personal protective equipment (PPE) correctly.

A total of 168 care homes across Scotland have been inspected since June and, out of those, almost a third have been rated as “weak.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “Everyone has the right to safe, compassionate care which meets their needs and respects their rights.

“Where areas of weakness are identified, a multi-agency approach helps to ensure that staff are supported to make those improvements.”

Liz McKeegan, regional director of Care UK Limited, said an action plan has been drawn up to improve the procedures in place at Wellmeadow Lodge.

She told the Barrhead News: “The last few months have been challenging for almost everyone working in care homes.

“The Care Inspectorate report included positive comments about the care in this home, however, I also accept that the situation, particularly restrictions on our ability to hold all of our usual face-to-face training sessions, has led to a dip in our usual high standards.

“We are working tirelessly to put this right. We have already re-run training sessions on the use of PPE and appointed an Infection Prevention and Control champion to better support other colleagues and ensure we fully implement the action plan we’ve drawn up in response to this report.”