INSPECTORS have ordered a Cumnock care home to improve standards of cleanliness to ensure residents are kept as safe as possible.

A report from the Care Inspectorate classed the care and support offered to residents at Bute House during the Covid-19 pandemic as “adequate”.

The watchdog’s report said that some mattresses and equipment at the facility were “not as clean as expected”.

While the report says that management at the home, on Barrhill Terrace, took “immediate action” to address the concerns, inspectors have still set out a range of requirements which staff must address to tackle the initial concerns.

The report says that “management oversight of the cleanliness of some care equipment needs to be improved to help reduce the risk of infection for the people who live in the home”.

The report also said although ‘appropriate’ Covid-19 information was displayed throughout the home, notice boards appeared ‘very busy’ which meant ‘key messages may be lost’.

Setting out a range of requirements to counteract these concerns, the scrutiny body said the Care Home provider, Harveys Healthcare (Scotland) Ltd, must ‘ensure that cleaning schedules and documentation are available for all areas of the home and available for staff to complete’.

They should also “ensure the management team develop and implement robust auditing processes to demonstrate a satisfactory standard of cleanliness throughout the home”.

The report says that by January 15, the care provider “must ensure that infection control practices support a safe environment for people experiencing care”.

Among the positives identified in the report were the encouraging feedback from both residents and their families, the “genuine, warm and positive relationships” witnessed between residents and staff, and the completion of online Covid-19 training by staff.

The home’s managers have not responded to a request for comment.