A RECENT inspection has found a Hexham care home ‘requires improvement’.

Hexham Carntyne Residential Care Home, on Hencotes, was inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on April 7 this year.

According to the CQC, the unannounced inspection was prompted “in part due to concerns received about PPE not being always available to staff and management oversight at the service.”

The report, published on May 20, stated whilst “PPE was plentiful and available to all staff”, they found other areas of concern in which the provider needed to make improvements.

It said: “Infection control procedures, particularly related to the Covid-19 pandemic were in need of immediate action”.

It added: “We made a referral to the infection control team to support the service.

“However, we noted no person at the home had contracted Covid-19 during the recent pandemic.”

The CQC also found that medicines management procedures at the care home needed to be improved.

The care home, run by Carntyne Care Home Limited, provides personal care for up to 19 people, including older people and people living with dementia.

The inspection areas of safety, effectiveness and leadership were rated as requiring improvement.

However, the care and responsiveness inspection areas were rated as ‘Good’.

The report said: “People reported that staff were very kind and caring and provided them with a good service in a comfortable environment.

“However, staff appeared very busy at peak times and the provider was addressing this.”

The report added that a new manager had very recently come into post and “everyone we communicated with spoke positively about them”.

This was the first inspection of the care home under its current provider.

Its last rating under the previous provider was Good, published on March 7, 2018.

A statement from the management team said: “The Management of Carntyne Care Home would like to emphasise that there has been no Covid cases in Carntyne throughout the pandemic and remains so to date.

“This is due to good management, training and plentiful supply of PPE.

“Unfortunately, due to serious health issues of the provider, they were unable to attend the service for over a year.

“Despite this, the provider worked remotely and tirelessly to ensure that the home had full access to PPE and resources required to successfully maintain the safety of all its residents, continuing with daily updates.

“Families have complimented the home on the care their loved ones have received throughout the pandemic.

“The management feel, that due to the intensity of the inspection, this may have incited the occurrence of some human errors on all sides.

“All areas highlighted as a concern in the report, have been immediately acted upon to rectify these.”