Skye care home residents 'no longer at serious risk'

Residents at a care home on Skye where ten people died are no longer at serious risk, a court has heard.

“Serious and significant concerns” were raised about the quality of care at Home Farm in Portree.

The Care Inspectorate took legal action to suspend its licence and NHS Highland stepped in to ensure improvements were made.

Inverness Sheriff Court heard on Wednesday that Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (SCSWIS) felt residents were now in safe hands.

David Logan, from SCSWIS, told the court via video link: “In the last 48 hours there has been a further inspection carried out of the home.

“Although that inspection did raise some issues in relation to the use of PPE and indeed the storage of some medicine, it’s not maintained by the petitioners that the position is that people are currently seriously at risk in terms of their health.”

The licence suspension application has now been dropped and care home owner HC-One has been given a three-week deadline to explain its future plans. Another hearing will take place on August 21.

Malcolm Gunnyeon, representing HC-One, told the court the home is being run as a partnership between it and NHS Highland.

He said: “HC-One do remain the registered operator of the home and responsible for its management.

“There is a partnership between NHS Highland and HC-One which is currently operating the home and that partnership having resulted in the improvements which give rise to the interim suspension application being dropped.

“I don’t accept that NHS Highland are currently running the home, it is a partnership of which HC-One is very much a part.”

Ten residents at the care home have died from the virus with 20 others and 29 staff also testing positive.

On Tuesday it was revealed that all staff and residents would be retested for Covid-19.

NHS Highland confirmed the move was a “precaution” after a worker at Home Farm care home tested positive for coronavirus, having previously recovered from the disease.