‘Significant weaknesses’ found at Four Seasons care home

A Four Seasons care home in Aberdeen has been told to improve after inspectors found “significant weaknesses”.

An inspection of Banks O’Dee Care Home in June rated the quality of environment ‘weak’, citing smells of urine, ripped furniture and limited access to outdoor space.

The report said: “We found a number of the units and furniture smelled of stale urine, despite some work undertaken to address the concerns.

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“Many areas of the home and gardens were found to be in poor repair and unkempt. There was a lack of appreciation amongst staff that this was the residents’ home and that ripped furniture, overgrown gardens, torn wallpaper and chipped paintwork does not provide a nice environment for the residents. Residents had limited access to the outdoor space.”

A Four Seasons spokesperson said: “We have been making improvements to the home environment, including new flooring where needed and deep cleaning, including cleaning and repainting of sluices. A refurbishment plan for the home is being completed.”

The spokesperson said the home’s manager was carrying twice daily tours of the home to check for any areas requiring maintenance.

They added: “We are sorry that the inspectors found there are some things that we need to do better. However, the inspectors acknowledged that the new management team in the home had already recognised this and were taking actions to improve implementation of our systems and procedures to promote good practice, support care quality and give our residents a good day to day experience of living in the home.

“They are being supported by our regional manager to bring about improvements and this has been going on for six months since the inspection in January. We believe we have made good progress to meet the CI requirements.”

Four Seasons highlighted that most residents were happy with the service they received and that inspectors noted the care team interacting in a “warm, relaxed, informal and friendly” manner.

The provider also noted the CI’s positive comments on staff who were described as well-meaning and working with compassion and kindness.

Four Seasons said new permanent registered nurses and a new experienced deputy manager had recently been employed at the home, while noting the challenging recruitment environment which made it necessary to use agency staff.