STAFF at a Greenock nursing home have been praised by inspectors for delivering high quality care and support to its elderly residents.

Merino Court on Drumfrochar Road received an unannounced visit from the Care Inspectorate over three days between April 29 and May 1.

The purpose-built facility, run by HC-One Limited, provides care and support for up to 60 older people, including a number of residents living with dementia.

During the inspection, the Care Inspectorate spoke with a number of people using the service, as well as family members and staff.

The home was inspected across a range of areas, receiving a ‘very good’ rating for its support for people’s wellbeing, leadership and staff team.

Inspectors observed managers to be ‘visible and accessible’, noting that this gave families confidence in the service.

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Staff were said to have received good quality induction and training and were observed working well together to ensure residents’ needs were met.

The report, published this week, states: “The service had experienced an unsettled period where use of agency staff had been high due to staff shortages.

“This had significantly improved in recent months following successful recruitment.

“The service had developed activities to support new and longer term staff members to integrate together.

“We received very positive feedback about this from staff who told us it had helped them to work well as a team.”

Inspectors rated Merino Court’s setting and care and support planning as ‘good’, noting that there was room for some improvement in both.

They described personal plans as ‘detailed and carefully written’ but suggested reviewing these to ensure they are current and accurate.

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While the nursing home’s environment was described as ‘clean and safe’, the Care Inspectorate said ‘tired’ décor in many of the rooms led to the setting not always appearing homely and comfortable.

A back stairwell, which is not accessible to residents, was found to be in ‘very poor’ condition.

The report said: “We asked senior management to take urgent action to make an improvement to this area and these improvements were arranged during the inspection.

“Overall, the quality of the environment was in need of attention to ensure the home continues to be comfortable and of good quality to meet people's needs and expectations.”

A spokesperson for Merino Court Nursing Home said: “We are delighted with this positive report from the Care Inspectorate which is a testament to the hard work and kind care that each and every member of the team at Merino Court puts in, day in day out.

“I would like to thank the whole team for their commitment and I’m pleased that their dedication to supporting those in our care to lead their best lives has been recognised by our regulator.

"This is a great reflection of what we do as we strive to be the kindest care home provider, and along the way to be the first choice to those we care for, their families, colleagues and commissioners, serving at the heart of each of our communities.”