A third Scottish Borders Council care home has been criticised for failing to make mandatory improvements demanded by care home watchdogs.

The council’s arms-length care company, SB Cares, was ordered to make improvements to staff training at Deanfield Care Home in Hawick back in May 2017.

However, a year later, care home inspectors once again had to demand that staff training be improved, despite initially asking for this to be completed within six weeks.

This isn’t the first time SB Cares has failed to meet demands issued by the Care Inspectorate, the Scottish Government’s care home watchdog.

In April of this year, inspectors at SB Cares’ home care west service found that requirements to improve that were handed down two years ago had still not been carried out.

Just weeks later, inspectors visiting SB Cares’ home care east service found a similar pattern, with a requirement to improve the personal plans of service users, dating back to March 2016, remaining unfulfilled.

These demands for improvements are known as requirements. Each time a requirement is given to a service, it is given six weeks to implement improvements.

According to the Care Inspectorate, requirements are made ‘where (a) there is evidence of poor outcomes for people using the service or (b) there is the potential for poor outcomes which would affect people’s health, safety or welfare.’

When approached for comment, SB Cares provided no explanation for why it had consistently failed to implement these requirements within the six-week timescales.

Instead, a spokesperson for SB Cares said: “We welcomed the support and feedback the Care Inspectorate offered during their recent inspection of our Deanfield Care Home service.

“While there are some areas for improvement, a number of areas relating to the performance of the service have been praised and progress made since the last inspection was acknowledged.

“We were extremely pleased to receive the positive comments about our team in relation to them being aware of their responsibilities and having a good team approach to meeting the support needs of the residents and their relatives and carers.

“The feedback from the residents themselves during the inspection was also valued, particularly their encouraging comments about the quality of their care and support.

“It is disappointing that we have not met fully the requirement that all our staff receive mandatory training within the stipulated timescales, however we would stress that significant progress has been made in this area.

“In addition, the Inspectorate has recognised that our management team were responsive to the areas of improvement highlighted during the inspection and from its own findings prior to the inspection commencing.

“We do accept how vitally important well trained staff are to enable quality care and support for the residents and will continue to progress this as a priority within our service.”

SB Cares also did not confirm whether it would fulfill this latest requirement within the six-week timescale.